---
title: “You must not spoil him,” observed the king one day, when he had bee… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “You must not spoil him,” observed the king one day, when he had been watching them playing together. Who acts: You, king. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 7, sentence 4

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“You must not spoil him,” observed the king one day, when he had been watching them playing together.

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**Who acts:** You, king · **What happens:** not spoil, observe, watch, play · **To what, where:** king, toys

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (You, 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:pg2435:7:4
# text = “You must not spoil him,” observed the king one day, when he had been watching them playing together.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	spoil	spoil	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
9	observed	observe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	aux	_	_
19	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	playing	play	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
22	together	together	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **spoil** *in a quote* | must | You | king |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **observe** | past | You *not said here* | the king |  |  | day |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent king=Topic |
| 3 | **watch** | past · perfect · progressive | king | toys *= toy* |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 4 | **play** | gerund | king *not said here* |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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