---
title: And this was what the old man said: 'You began well, my son, so thin… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And this was what the old man said: 'You began well, my son, so things have gone well with you. Who acts: this, old man, You, things. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 31, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 31, sentence 50

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And this was what the old man said: 'You began well, my son, so things have gone well with you.

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**Who acts:** this, old man, You, things · **What happens:** be, say, begin, go · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 31. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (this, old man, You, things), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3027:31:50
# text = And this was what the old man said: 'You began well, my son, so things have gone well with you.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	obj	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
10	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
13	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
19	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
20	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	conj	_	_
22	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	21	advmod	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | this |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the old man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **begin** | past | You |  |  |  |  | my son *vocative*; well *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 4 | **go** | present · perfect | things |  |  |  |  | with you; well *property* | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with you=Beneficiary |

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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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