---
title: The king frowned, and was about to say something sharp, when the Cou… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The king frowned, and was about to say something sharp, when the Court Fool pushed his way to the front and said: “Dear me, what are all you clever people so puzzled about? Who acts: king. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 5, with its dependency tree
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 5, sentence 45

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The king frowned, and was about to say something sharp, when the Court Fool pushed his way to the front and said: “Dear me, what are all you clever people so puzzled about?

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**Who acts:** king · **What happens:** frown, be, say, push · **To what, where:** king, something, way, front, clever people · **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 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king), 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:pg2435:5:45
# text = The king frowned, and was about to say something sharp, when the Court Fool pushed his way to the front and said: “Dear me, what are all you clever people so puzzled about?
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
3	frowned	frown	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	9	obj	_	_
11	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	17	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	Court	Court	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	Fool	Fool	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	pushed	push	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
26	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	Dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	parataxis	_	_
28	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	35	nsubj	_	_
31	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
32	all	all	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
33	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	conj	_	_
36	so	so	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	puzzled	puzzled	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	ccomp	_	_
38	about	about	ADP	IN	_	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **frown** | participle |  | the king *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | the king *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the king *not said here* | something |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent something=Topic |
| 4 | **push** | past | the king | Fool's way |  | the front |  |  | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent way=Theme to front=Trajectory |
| 5 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | the king *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | clever people |  |  |  | all *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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