---
title: They had been very happy all these years, but they would have been h… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They had been very happy all these years, but they would have been happier still if they had had any children; but old though they were they had never made up their minds to do without them, and often they would sit over the fire and talk of how they would have brought up their children if only some
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 9, sentence 66

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They had been very happy all these years, but they would have been happier still if they had had any children; but old though they were they had never made up their minds to do without them, and often they would sit over the fire and talk of how they would have brought up their children if only some had come to their house.

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**Who acts:** men, some · **What happens:** be, have, not make up, do, sit, bring up · **To what, where:** children, men, fire, house

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men, some), 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:pg2435:9:66
# text = They had been very happy all these years, but they would have been happier still if they had had any children; but old though they were they had never made up their minds to do without them, and often they would sit over the fire and talk of how they would have brought up their children if only some had come to their house.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	8	det:predet	_	_
7	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux	_	_
14	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	cop	_	_
15	happier	happy	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	conj	_	_
16	still	still	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
17	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
21	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	22	det	_	_
22	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
26	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
28	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux:pass	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
32	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	advcl	_	_
33	up	up	ADP	RP	_	32	compound:prt	_	_
34	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	minds	mind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	advcl	_	_
38	without	without	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
42	often	often	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
43	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
44	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
45	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
46	over	over	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	talk	talk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	conj	_	_
51	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
52	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	56	advmod	_	_
53	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj:pass	_	_
54	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
55	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	aux	_	_
56	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	50	acl	_	_
57	up	up	ADP	RP	_	56	compound:prt	_	_
58	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	59	nmod:poss	_	_
59	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	obj	_	_
60	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	64	mark	_	_
61	only	only	ADV	RB	_	64	advmod	_	_
62	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	64	nsubj	_	_
63	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
64	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	56	advcl	_	_
65	to	to	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
66	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	67	nmod:poss	_	_
67	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past · perfect | men *= man* |  |  |  | year | happy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | would · perfect | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | happy *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | men *= man* | any children |  |  | still |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient |
| 4 | **be** |  | men *= man* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **make up** | past · perfect · passive |  | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **do** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | without men *= man* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **sit** | would | men *= man* |  |  | the fire and talk |  | often *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over fire=Location |
| 8 | **bring up** | would · perfect · passive |  | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **come** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | some |  |  | men's house |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to house=Initial\_Location |
| 10 | **mind** |  | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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