---
title: As was his custom, he stopped everybody whom he met in the streets t… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: As was his custom, he stopped everybody whom he met in the streets that looked likely to want a shepherd and begged them to engage him, but they all seemed to have shepherds of their own, or else not to need any. Who acts: Dragon, streets. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The C
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 79

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As was his custom, he stopped everybody whom he met in the streets that looked likely to want a shepherd and begged them to engage him, but they all seemed to have shepherds of their own, or else not to need any.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Dragon, streets · **What happens:** be, stop, meet, look, want, beg · **To what, where:** everybody, streets, shepherd, Dragon, shepherds, any

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Dragon, streets), 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:pg2435:8:79
# text = As was his custom, he stopped everybody whom he met in the streets that looked likely to want a shepherd and begged them to engage him, but they all seemed to have shepherds of their own, or else not to need any.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	everybody	everybody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	7	obj	_	_
9	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	obj	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	streets	street	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	xcomp	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	engage	engage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	32	advmod	_	_
32	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	shepherds	shepherd	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
40	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
41	else	else	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
42	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	44	advmod	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	need	need	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	conj	_	_
45	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	44	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | as Dragon's custom | tree rules |
| 2 | **stop** | past | Dragon | everybody |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector everybody=Eventuality |
| 3 | **meet** | past | Dragon |  |  | the streets |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whom=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **look** | past | the streets |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 5 | **want** | to-infinitive | the streets *not said here* | a shepherd |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot shepherd=Theme |
| 6 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | the streets *not said here* |  | streets *= street* |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **engage** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the streets *not said here* | Dragon |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 8 | **seem** | past | streets *= street* |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 9 | **have** | to-infinitive | streets *= street* *not said here* | shepherds of streets's own |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shepherd=Patient |
| 10 | **not** **need** | to-infinitive | streets *= street* *not said here* | any |  |  |  | else *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot any=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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