---
title: As to the wreath, I know not how it came there, unless it may be the… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: As to the wreath, I know not how it came there, unless it may be the gift of some doves whom I fed when they were starving! Who acts: I, Wreath, doves. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 12, sentence 80

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As to the wreath, I know not how it came there, unless it may be the gift of some doves whom I fed when they were starving!

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, Wreath, doves · **What happens:** not know, come, be, feed, starve · **To what, where:** gift, doves · **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 (I, Wreath, doves), 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:pg3027:12:80
# text = As to the wreath, I know not how it came there, unless it may be the gift of some doves whom I fed when they were starving!
1	As	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	4	case	_	_
2	to	to	ADP	IN	_	1	fixed	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	wreath	wreath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
9	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
12	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	cop	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	22	det	_	_
22	doves	dove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	_
23	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	obj	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	fed	feed	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
26	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	starving	starve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  | as the wreath | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **come** | past | Wreath |  |  | there |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | may | Wreath | the gift |  |  |  | of some doves | tree rules |
| 4 | **feed** | past | I | some doves |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **starve** | past · progressive | doves *= dove* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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