---
title: Then the king’s wise men said: “This is a very weighty matter; it wo… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the king’s wise men said: “This is a very weighty matter; it would be best to allow the prince to set out accompanied by some persons in whom you have confidence. Who acts: wise men, This, it, prince. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 1, with its de
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 1, sentence 87

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the king’s wise men said: “This is a very weighty matter; it would be best to allow the prince to set out accompanied by some persons in whom you have confidence.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** wise men, This, it, prince, you · **What happens:** say, be, allow, set out, accompany, have · **To what, where:** weighty matter, prince, confidence · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (wise men, This, it, prince), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg3282:1:87
# text = Then the king’s wise men said: “This is a very weighty matter; it would be best to allow the prince to set out accompanied by some persons in whom you have confidence.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	’s	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	nsubj	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	very	very	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	weighty	weighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	cop	_	_
20	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	ccomp	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	allow	allow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	csubj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
27	out	out	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	_
28	accompanied	accompany	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	xcomp	_	_
29	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	31	det	_	_
31	persons	person	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl:agent	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	31	nmod	_	_
34	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
36	confidence	confidence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the king's wise men |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | This | a weighty matter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | would | it |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **allow** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | the prince |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer prince=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **set out** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | the prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **accompany** *in a quote* | participle | the prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **have** *in a quote* | present | you | confidence |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent confidence=Patient |

<!-- .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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