---
title: However, many boys might think it better fun to begin to learn hunti… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: However, many boys might think it better fun to begin to learn hunting as soon as they can walk. Who acts: many boys, boys. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 1, sentence 11

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However, many boys might think it better fun to begin to learn hunting as soon as they can walk.

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**Who acts:** many boys, boys · **What happens:** think, begin, learn, walk · **To what, where:** chance, hunting

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (many boys, boys), 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:pg3282:1:11
# text = However, many boys might think it better fun to begin to learn hunting as soon as they can walk.
1	However	however	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	amod	_	_
9	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
15	as	as	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
17	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | might | many boys | chance |  |  |  | however *property* | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent it=Theme fun=Attribute |
| 2 | **begin** | to-infinitive | many boys *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **learn** | to-infinitive | many boys *not said here* | hunting |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hunting=Topic |
| 4 | **walk** | can | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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