---
title: But the boy did not work; instead, he idled about as before, content… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the boy did not work; instead, he idled about as before, contenting himself with eating the pears off his tree, which, unlike other pear trees before or since, bore fruit the whole year round. Who acts: boy. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 25, 
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 25, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the boy did not work; instead, he idled about as before, contenting himself with eating the pears off his tree, which, unlike other pear trees before or since, bore fruit the whole year round.

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**Who acts:** boy · **What happens:** not work, idle, content, eat, bear · **To what, where:** Boy, pears, fruit

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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 (boy), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg2435:25:38
# text = But the boy did not work; instead, he idled about as before, contenting himself with eating the pears off his tree, which, unlike other pear trees before or since, bore fruit the whole year round.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	instead	instead	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	idled	idle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
12	about	about	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	as	as	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	before	before	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	contenting	content	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
17	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	16	obj	_	_
18	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	pears	pear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
22	off	off	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	unlike	unlike	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
30	pear	pear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
31	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	_
32	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
33	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	since	since	ADV	RB	_	31	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	bore	bear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
37	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl:unmarked	_	_
41	round	round	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **work** | past · do-support | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **idle** | past | Boy |  |  |  |  | before, instead *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **content** | gerund | Boy *not said here* | Boy |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus himself=Experiencer |
| 4 | **eat** | gerund | Boy *not said here* | the pears |  |  |  | off Boy's tree unlike other pear trees | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pear=Patient |
| 5 | **bear** | past | Boy *not said here* | fruit |  |  | year | round *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fruit=Patient |

<!-- .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.

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**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.

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