---
title: However, as the dove could not be found, he was obliged to tell the… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: However, as the dove could not be found, he was obliged to tell the king what had happened, and the king in his turn despatched messengers to capture the old man and bring him back. Who acts: king. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 39, with its dependency tree and t
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/39/45/)

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 39, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
However, as the dove could not be found, he was obliged to tell the king what had happened, and the king in his turn despatched messengers to capture the old man and bring him back.

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**Who acts:** king · **What happens:** not find, oblige, tell, happen, despatch, capture · **To what, where:** dove, butcher, king, messengers, old man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 39. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king), 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:pg3027:39:45
# text = However, as the dove could not be found, he was obliged to tell the king what had happened, and the king in his turn despatched messengers to capture the old man and bring him back.
1	However	however	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	dove	dove	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	20	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	turn	turn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
28	despatched	despatch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
29	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	capture	capture	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	conj	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	_
38	back	back	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **find** | could · passive |  | the dove |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 2 | **oblige** | past · passive |  | butcher |  |  |  | however *property* | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  | the king |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent king=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **happen** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **despatch** | past | the king in butcher's turn | messengers |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **capture** | to-infinitive | the king in butcher's turn *not said here* | the old man |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Theme |
| 7 | **bring back** | infinitive | the king in butcher's turn *not said here* |  | butcher |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=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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