---
title: He was asked the riddle and could not give the true answer; and his… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was asked the riddle and could not give the true answer; and his head was cut off and hung upon the battlements. 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 72

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He was asked the riddle and could not give the true answer; and his head was cut off and hung upon the battlements.

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**What happens:** ask, not give, cut off, hang · **To what, where:** Quimus, true answer, head, battlements

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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: 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:pg3282:1:72
# text = He was asked the riddle and could not give the true answer; and his head was cut off and hung upon the battlements.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	riddle	riddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
19	off	off	ADP	RP	_	18	compound:prt	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
22	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	battlements	battlement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · passive |  | Quimus |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **give** | could |  | the true answer |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent answer=Theme |
| 3 | **cut off** | past · passive |  | Quimus's head |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |
| 4 | **hang** | past |  |  |  | the battlements |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon battlement=Location |

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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 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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