--- title: At first the king could not believe that this was the small beast wh… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: At first the king could not believe that this was the small beast who had seemed so friendly on the shore of the lake of quicksilver but then he knew very little of necromancy, and had never studied the art of expanding and contracting his body. Who acts: king, this, small beast, art. A sentence of --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/29/62/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Orange Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/) / [Opening, part 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/29/) / 62 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 29, sentence 62 At first the king could not believe that this was the small beast who had seemed so friendly on the shore of the lake of quicksilver but then he knew very little of necromancy, and had never studied the art of expanding and contracting his body. **Who acts:** king, this, small beast, art · **What happens:** not believe, be, seem, know, not study, expand · **To what, where:** small beast, shore, little, art, body · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, this, small beast, art), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3027:29:62 # text = At first the king could not believe that this was the small beast who had seemed so friendly on the shore of the lake of quicksilver but then he knew very little of necromancy, and had never studied the art of expanding and contracting his body. 1 At at ADP IN _ 2 case _ _ 2 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 7 obl _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 5 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 6 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 7 advmod _ _ 7 believe believe VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 8 that that SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 9 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 13 nsubj _ _ 10 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 cop _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 12 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 beast beast NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 ccomp _ _ 14 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 16 nsubj _ _ 15 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 aux _ _ 16 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 acl:relcl _ _ 17 so so ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 18 friendly friendly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 xcomp _ _ 19 on on ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 shore shore NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obl _ _ 22 of of ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 lake lake NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nmod _ _ 25 of of ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 26 quicksilver quicksilver NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nmod _ _ 27 but but CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 28 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 30 advmod _ _ 29 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 conj _ _ 31 very very ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 obj _ _ 33 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 necromancy necromancy NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 37 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 38 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 39 advmod _ _ 39 studied study VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 7 parataxis _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 art art NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ _ 42 of of SCONJ IN _ 43 mark _ _ 43 expanding expand VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 41 acl _ _ 44 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 45 contracting contract VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 43 conj _ _ 46 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 47 nmod:poss _ _ 47 body body NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **believe** | could | the king | | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **is a** | past | this | the small beast | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **seem** | past | the small beast | | | the shore of the lake of quicksilver | | friendly *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **know** | past | king | little | | | then | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer little=Stimulus | | 5 | **not** **study** | past · perfect | | the art | | | | | vn learn-14-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent art=Topic | | 6 | **expand** | gerund | the art *not said here* | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 7 | **contract** | gerund | the art *not said here* | king's body | | | | | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent body=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/29/61/) - next →: [sentence 63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/29/63/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/29/)