---
title: But the messengers returned with the sad news that the doctor had di… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the messengers returned with the sad news that the doctor had died some weeks before, and, what was worse, his secret had died with him. Who acts: messengers, doctor, secret. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 37, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 37, sentence 73

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But the messengers returned with the sad news that the doctor had died some weeks before, and, what was worse, his secret had died with him.

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**Who acts:** messengers, doctor, secret · **What happens:** return, die, be · **To what, where:** sad news

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 37. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (messengers, doctor, secret), 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:pg3027:37:73
# text = But the messengers returned with the sad news that the doctor had died some weeks before, and, what was worse, his secret had died with him.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	doctor	doctor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	died	die	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
14	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	det	_	_
15	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl:unmarked	_	_
16	before	before	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	died	die	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	conj	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | the messengers |  |  |  |  | with the sad news | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **die** | past · perfect | the doctor | the sad news *not said here* |  |  |  | before *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | bad *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **die** | past · perfect | king's secret |  |  |  |  | with king | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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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