---
title: The king asked whether his army or the prince’s should lead the way;… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The king asked whether his army or the prince’s should lead the way; but the prince set off first and with his hussars he fought so bravely that only two of the enemy were left alive, and these two were only spared to act as messengers. Who acts: king, army, prince. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy 
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 3, sentence 50

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The king asked whether his army or the prince’s should lead the way; but the prince set off first and with his hussars he fought so bravely that only two of the enemy were left alive, and these two were only spared to act as messengers.

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**Who acts:** king, army, prince · **What happens:** ask, lead, set off, fight, leave, spare · **To what, where:** way, two · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, army, prince), 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:pg2435:3:50
# text = The king asked whether his army or the prince’s should lead the way; but the prince set off first and with his hussars he fought so bravely that only two of the enemy were left alive, and these two were only spared to act as messengers.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’s	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
11	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	lead	lead	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
20	off	off	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	19	advmod	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	hussars	hussar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	fought	fight	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
28	so	so	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	bravely	bravely	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
31	only	only	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
36	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	advcl	_	_
38	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
41	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	42	det	_	_
42	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	45	nsubj:pass	_	_
43	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	aux:pass	_	_
44	only	only	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	spared	spare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	act	act	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	advcl	_	_
48	as	as	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the king |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **lead** | should | king's army or the prince | the way |  |  |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
| 3 | **set off** | past | the prince |  |  |  |  | first *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **fight** | past | king |  |  |  |  | with king's hussars; bravely *property* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with hussar=Co-Agent |
| 5 | **leave** | past · passive |  | two of the enemy |  |  |  | alive *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **spare** | past · passive |  | this two |  |  |  |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: subject=Asset |
| 7 | **act** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | as messengers | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as messenger=Attribute |

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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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