---
title: Once there, he began to make preparations for a long siege, and the… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Once there, he began to make preparations for a long siege, and the first thing he did was to plan how best to send his wife to a place of security. Who acts: king, first thing. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 27, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 27, sentence 10

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Once there, he began to make preparations for a long siege, and the first thing he did was to plan how best to send his wife to a place of security.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** king, first thing · **What happens:** begin, make, do, be, send · **To what, where:** preparations, first thing, wife, place

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 27. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, first thing), 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:pg3027:27:10
# text = Once there, he began to make preparations for a long siege, and the first thing he did was to plan how best to send his wife to a place of security.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
2	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	preparations	preparation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	siege	siege	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	17	amod	_	_
17	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	plan	plan	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
23	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
24	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	22	obj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	security	security	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | king |  |  | there |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive | king *not said here* | preparations |  |  |  | for a long siege | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP P.asset»: agent=Agent preparation=Product for siege=Asset |
| 3 | **do** | past | king | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 4 | **is** | past | the first thing |  |  |  |  | plan *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **send** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the first thing *not said here* | king's wife |  | a place of security |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent wife=Theme to place=Destination |

<!-- .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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