---
title: He laid his hand on the box as he spoke, but the king signed to him… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He laid his hand on the box as he spoke, but the king signed to him to wait, and ordered Labakan to come to the other table and lay his hand on the box he had chosen. Who acts: choice, king. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 35, with its dependency t
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 35, sentence 91

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He laid his hand on the box as he spoke, but the king signed to him to wait, and ordered Labakan to come to the other table and lay his hand on the box he had chosen.

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**Who acts:** choice, king · **What happens:** lay, speak, sign, wait, order, come · **To what, where:** hand, box, choice, Labakan, other table · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (choice, king), 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:pg2435:35:91
# text = He laid his hand on the box as he spoke, but the king signed to him to wait, and ordered Labakan to come to the other table and lay his hand on the box he had chosen.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	signed	sign	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	ordered	order	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
23	Labakan	Labakan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	on	on	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	36	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lay** | past | choice | choice's hand |  | the box |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent hand=Theme on box=Destination |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | choice |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **sign** | past | the king |  | choice |  |  |  | vn instr\_communication-37.4.1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient |
| 4 | **wait** | to-infinitive | the king *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **order** | past |  |  | Labakan |  |  |  | vn order-58.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent labakan=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **come** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the other table |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to table=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **lie** | past |  | choice's hand |  | the box |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location hand=Theme |
| 8 | **choose** | past · perfect | king | the box *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent box=Theme |

<!-- .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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