---
title: The king was very much frightened when he heard this, and though he… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The king was very much frightened when he heard this, and though he took the canes and examined them closely, he could see no difference between them. Who acts: 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
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 7, sentence 69

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The king was very much frightened when he heard this, and though he took the canes and examined them closely, he could see no difference between them.

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**Who acts:** king · **What happens:** frighten, hear, take, examine, see · **To what, where:** king, this, canes, difference

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (king), 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:pg2435:7:69
# text = The king was very much frightened when he heard this, and though he took the canes and examined them closely, he could see no difference between them.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	much	much	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
10	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	canes	cane	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	examined	examine	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	closely	closely	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
26	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	27	det	_	_
27	difference	difference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	between	between	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **frighten** | past · passive |  | the king |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **hear** | past | king | this |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 3 | **take** | past | king | the canes |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cane=Theme |
| 4 | **examine** | past | king *not said here* | canes *= cane* |  |  |  | closely *property* | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 5 | **see** | could | king | no difference |  |  |  | between canes *= cane* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer difference=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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