---
title: At first he was too tired to speak; but at length he raised his head… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At first he was too tired to speak; but at length he raised his head and told all the story to his father and mother, who sat watching him. Who acts: husband, father. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 22, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 22, sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At first he was too tired to speak; but at length he raised his head and told all the story to his father and mother, who sat watching him.

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**Who acts:** husband, father · **What happens:** be, speak, raise, tell, sit, watch · **To what, where:** head, length, story, father, husband · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 22. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (husband, father), 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:pg3027:22:20
# text = At first he was too tired to speak; but at length he raised his head and told all the story to his father and mother, who sat watching him.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	obl	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	raised	raise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
19	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
29	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
30	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	29	xcomp	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | husband |  |  |  |  | tired *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | husband *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **raise** | past | husband | husband's head |  | length |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent head=Theme at length=Destination |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | husband *not said here* | all story | husband's father and mother |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Topic to father=Recipient |
| 5 | **sit** | past | husband's father and mother |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **watch** | gerund | husband's father and mother *not said here* | husband |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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 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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