---
title: Then, to his vexation, the man found that he had left his axe behind… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then, to his vexation, the man found that he had left his axe behind him, and he knew that if it lay all night in the mud it would become rusty and useless. Who acts: man, axe, maiden. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 12, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then, to his vexation, the man found that he had left his axe behind him, and he knew that if it lay all night in the mud it would become rusty and useless.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, axe, maiden · **What happens:** find, leave, know, lie, become, vex · **To what, where:** axe, mud · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, axe, maiden), 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:pg3027:12:21
# text = Then, to his vexation, the man found that he had left his axe behind him, and he knew that if it lay all night in the mud it would become rusty and useless.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	vexation	vexation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	ccomp	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	advcl	_	_
26	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	det	_	_
27	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl:unmarked	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	ccomp	_	_
34	rusty	rusty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	xcomp	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | the man |  |  |  | then | to maiden's vexation | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **leave** | past · perfect | man | man's axe |  |  |  | behind maiden | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent axe=Theme behind he=Location |
| 3 | **know** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **lie** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | axe |  |  | the mud | night |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in mud=Location |
| 5 | **become** | would | axe |  |  |  |  | rusty *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **vex** |  | maiden |  |  |  |  |  | nom vexation «feeling 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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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