---
title: But he declined, and remained on horseback, as he did not know at wh… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But he declined, and remained on horseback, as he did not know at what moment the battle might begin; and whilst they were all talking together the youngest princess, who was also the loveliest, took off her ring, and her sister tore her handkerchief in two pieces, and they gave these gifts to the p
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 3, sentence 48

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But he declined, and remained on horseback, as he did not know at what moment the battle might begin; and whilst they were all talking together the youngest princess, who was also the loveliest, took off her ring, and her sister tore her handkerchief in two pieces, and they gave these gifts to the prince.

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**Who acts:** king, moment, princesses, youngest princess, sister · **What happens:** decline, not remain, not know, begin, talk, be · **To what, where:** horseback, youngest princess, ring, handkerchief, two pieces, gifts

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, moment, princesses, youngest princess), 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:pg2435:3:48
# text = But he declined, and remained on horseback, as he did not know at what moment the battle might begin; and whilst they were all talking together the youngest princess, who was also the loveliest, took off her ring, and her sister tore her handkerchief in two pieces, and they gave these gifts to the prince.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	declined	decline	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	remained	remain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	xcomp	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	horseback	horseback	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	obl	_	_
17	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	battle	battle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
24	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	all	all	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	40	advcl	_	_
29	together	together	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	32	amod	_	_
32	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
36	also	also	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	loveliest	lovely	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
40	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
41	off	off	ADP	RP	_	40	compound:prt	_	_
42	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
46	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	_
48	tore	tore	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
49	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	handkerchief	handkerchief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
51	in	in	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	53	nummod	_	_
53	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
56	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
57	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
58	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	59	det	_	_
59	gifts	gift	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	obj	_	_
60	to	to	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **decline** | past | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **remain** | participle | king *not said here* |  |  | horseback |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on horseback=Location |
| 3 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **begin** | might | moment |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **talk** | past · progressive | princesses *= princess* | the youngest princess |  |  |  | all, together *property* | vn compel-59.1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent princess=Patient |
| 6 | **is** | past | the youngest princess |  |  |  |  | lovely *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **take off** | past | king *not said here* | battle's ring |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ring=Theme |
| 8 | **tore** | past | battle's sister | battle's handkerchief |  | two pieces |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **give** | past | princesses *= princess* | this gifts | the prince |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent gift=Theme to prince=Recipient |

<!-- .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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