---
title: When he heard this the coachman, who understood the cat’s language b… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When he heard this the coachman, who understood the cat’s language better than the prince, his master, stopped his horses and asked: Who acts: Prince, coachman. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 36, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 36, sentence 87

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When he heard this the coachman, who understood the cat’s language better than the prince, his master, stopped his horses and asked:

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**Who acts:** Prince, coachman · **What happens:** hear, understand, stop, ask · **To what, where:** this, horses

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Prince, coachman), 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:pg2435:36:87
# text = When he heard this the coachman, who understood the cat’s language better than the prince, his master, stopped his horses and asked:
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	obj	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	coachman	coachman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	’s	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	parataxis	_	_
15	than	than	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | Prince | this |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **understand** | past | the coachman |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **stop** | past |  | Prince's horses |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality horse=Eventuality |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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