---
title: This was done, and many strange tales were told to the princess, but… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: This was done, and many strange tales were told to the princess, but none of the travellers said a word about the three giants. Who acts: none. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 30, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 30, sentence 74

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This was done, and many strange tales were told to the princess, but none of the travellers said a word about the three giants.

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**Who acts:** none · **What happens:** do, tell, say · **To what, where:** This, many strange tales, princess, word · **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 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (none), 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:pg2435:30:74
# text = This was done, and many strange tales were told to the princess, but none of the travellers said a word about the three giants.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
6	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
16	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	20	nsubj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	travellers	traveller	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
20	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	about	about	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	nummod	_	_
26	giants	giant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past · passive |  | This |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | many strange tales | the princess |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to princess=Recipient |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | none | a word |  |  |  | about the three giants | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |

<!-- .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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