---
title: It happened that at this very time a little daughter was born to the… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It happened that at this very time a little daughter was born to the king’s son, but in his distress for his friend he had hardly a thought to spare for the baby. Who acts: It, son. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 38, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 38, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It happened that at this very time a little daughter was born to the king’s son, but in his distress for his friend he had hardly a thought to spare for the baby.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** It, son · **What happens:** happen, bear, have, spare, distress · **To what, where:** little daughter, thought, distress

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, son), 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:pg2435:38:11
# text = It happened that at this very time a little daughter was born to the king’s son, but in his distress for his friend he had hardly a thought to spare for the baby.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	advcl	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	’s	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	distress	distress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
23	for	for	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	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
28	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	spare	spare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	advcl	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | It |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **bear** | past · passive |  | a little daughter |  |  | time | to the king's son | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **have** | past | son | a thought |  | son's distress for son's friend |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thought=Patient |
| 4 | **spare** | to-infinitive | son *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the baby | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **distress** |  | son |  |  |  |  | for son's friend | nom distress «feeling transitive»: poss=agent for=obl |

<!-- .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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