---
title: In a few minutes he returned saying: “Your Majesty, it is a little b… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In a few minutes he returned saying: “Your Majesty, it is a little boy who is kneeling there sobbing because his mother has beaten him.” Who acts: man, dream, little boy, mother. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 95

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a few minutes he returned saying: “Your Majesty, it is a little boy who is kneeling there sobbing because his mother has beaten him.”

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**Who acts:** man, dream, little boy, mother · **What happens:** return, say, be, kneel, sob, beat · **To what, where:** few minutes, Majesty, little boy, man · **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 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, dream, little boy, mother), 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:pg2435:6:95
# text = In a few minutes he returned saying: “Your Majesty, it is a little boy who is kneeling there sobbing because his mother has beaten him.”
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	Your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	Majesty	majesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	ccomp	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
19	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	kneeling	kneel	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	acl:relcl	_	_
21	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	_
22	sobbing	sob	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	conj	_	_
23	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
26	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	beaten	beat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | man | a few minutes *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent minute=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund |  | Your Majesty |  |  | minute |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent majesty=Topic |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | dream | a little boy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **kneel** *in a quote* | present · progressive | a little boy |  |  | there |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **sob** *in a quote* | gerund | a little boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **beat** *in a quote* | present · perfect | man's mother | man |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location he=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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