---
title: When the father was dying, he sent for his son and told him that he… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the father was dying, he sent for his son and told him that he would soon be left alone in the world, with no possessions but the small cottage they lived in and a pear tree which grew behind it, and that, whether he liked it or not, he would have to work, or else he would starve. Who acts: fat
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/25/36/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/25/) / 36

# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 25, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the father was dying, he sent for his son and told him that he would soon be left alone in the world, with no possessions but the small cottage they lived in and a pear tree which grew behind it, and that, whether he liked it or not, he would have to work, or else he would starve.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** father, small cottage, pear tree · **What happens:** die, send, tell, leave, live in, grow · **To what, where:** father, world, pear tree, cottage · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 25. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, small cottage, pear tree), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg2435:25:36
# text = When the father was dying, he sent for his son and told him that he would soon be left alone in the world, with no possessions but the small cottage they lived in and a pear tree which grew behind it, and that, whether he liked it or not, he would have to work, or else he would starve.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	dying	die	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	iobj	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
17	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
18	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	20	advmod	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	ccomp	_	_
21	alone	alone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	xcomp	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	28	det	_	_
28	possessions	possession	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	cottage	cottage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
35	in	in	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	pear	pear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	_
39	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	conj	_	_
40	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	41	nsubj	_	_
41	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	acl:relcl	_	_
42	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
48	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
49	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
50	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	parataxis	_	_
51	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obj	_	_
52	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
53	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	57	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
55	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
56	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
57	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	conj	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	59	mark	_	_
59	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
61	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	65	cc	_	_
62	else	else	ADV	RB	_	65	advmod	_	_
63	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	65	nsubj	_	_
64	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	65	aux	_	_
65	starve	starve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | past · progressive | the father |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **send** | past | father |  |  |  |  | for father's son | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | father *not said here* |  | father |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **leave** | would · passive |  | father |  | the world |  | with no possessions; alone, soon *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in world=Location |
| 5 | **live in** | past | the small cottage |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **grow** | past | a pear tree | a pear tree |  | cottage |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme behind it=Location |
| 7 | **like** | past | father | cottage |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |
| 8 | **not** **have** | would | father |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **work** | to-infinitive | father *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **starve** | would | father |  |  |  |  | else *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/25/35/)
- next →: [sentence 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/25/37/)
- ↑ back to [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/25/)