---
title: 'Once upon a time they were men and women like yourself,' answered t… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'Once upon a time they were men and women like yourself,' answered the frog, 'but having power in their hands, they used it for their own pleasure. Who acts: monsters. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 27, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 27, sentence 72

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'Once upon a time they were men and women like yourself,' answered the frog, 'but having power in their hands, they used it for their own pleasure.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** monsters · **What happens:** be, answer, have, use, please · **To what, where:** men, frog, power, hands

<!-- .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 (monsters), 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:pg3027:27:72
# text = 'Once upon a time they were men and women like yourself,' answered the frog, 'but having power in their hands, they used it for their own pleasure.
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	28	advmod	_	_
3	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	conj	_	_
11	like	like	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	yourself	yourself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
15	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
19	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
22	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	for	for	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
32	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	pleasure	pleasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	28	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | monsters *= monster* | men and women like yourself |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | the frog |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent frog=Eventuality |
| 3 | **have** | gerund | monsters *= monster* *not said here* | power |  | monsters's hands |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent power=Patient |
| 4 | **use** | past | monsters *= monster* | power |  |  |  | for monsters's own pleasure; once *property* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP PP.predicate»: agent=Agent it=Theme for pleasure=Eventuality |
| 5 | **please** |  | monsters *= monster* |  |  |  |  |  | nom pleasure «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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