---
title: But at length there came a day when, in spite of their prudence, the… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But at length there came a day when, in spite of their prudence, they seemed likely to die of starvation, for no more food was to be had. Who acts: length, lives. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But at length there came a day when, in spite of their prudence, they seemed likely to die of starvation, for no more food was to be had.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** length, lives · **What happens:** come, seem, die, have, spite · **To what, where:** spite, more food, prudence

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (length, lives), 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:pg2435:32:21
# text = But at length there came a day when, in spite of their prudence, they seemed likely to die of starvation, for no more food was to be had.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	at	at	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
5	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	spite	spite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	prudence	prudence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
18	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	starvation	starvation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
24	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
25	no	no	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	27	amod	_	_
27	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
30	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | length |  |  | spite of lives's prudence | day |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in spite=Location |
| 2 | **seem** | past | lives *= life* |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **die** | to-infinitive | lives *= life* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of starvation | vn die-42.4-1 «NP V PP.cause»: agent=Patient of starvation=Causer |
| 4 | **have** | past · passive | lives *= life* *not said here* | more food |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: food=Patient |
| 5 | **spite** |  |  | lives's prudence |  |  |  |  | nom spite «feeling transitive»: of=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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