---
title: For three nights Alonzo kept his word, not because he believed in th… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: For three nights Alonzo kept his word, not because he believed in the Yara, for he thought that the tales about her were all nonsense, but because he could not bear the tears with which he knew that Julia would greet him, if he confessed that he had returned to the forest. Who acts: Alonzo, Julia. A
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 10, sentence 120

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For three nights Alonzo kept his word, not because he believed in the Yara, for he thought that the tales about her were all nonsense, but because he could not bear the tears with which he knew that Julia would greet him, if he confessed that he had returned to the forest.

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**Who acts:** Alonzo, Julia · **What happens:** keep, not believe, think, be, not bear, know · **To what, where:** word, Yara, tears, Alonzo · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Alonzo, Julia), 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:pg3282:10:120
# text = For three nights Alonzo kept his word, not because he believed in the Yara, for he thought that the tales about her were all nonsense, but because he could not bear the tears with which he knew that Julia would greet him, if he confessed that he had returned to the forest.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	nights	night	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
4	Alonzo	Alonzo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
10	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	believed	believe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	Yara	Yara	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	ccomp	_	_
23	about	about	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
24	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	det	_	_
27	nonsense	nonsense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
30	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	bear	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
37	with	with	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	obl	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	acl:relcl	_	_
41	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
42	Julia	Julia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
43	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	greet	greet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	ccomp	_	_
45	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
49	confessed	confess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	conj	_	_
50	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
51	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
52	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
53	returned	return	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	49	ccomp	_	_
54	to	to	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **keep** | past | Alonzo | Alonzo's word |  |  | night |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **believe** | past | Alonzo |  |  | the Yara |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Alonzo |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | about Yara's nonsense | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **bear** | could | Alonzo | the tears |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tear=Patient |
| 6 | **know** | past | Alonzo |  |  |  |  | with the tears | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **greet** *speech: greet* | would | Julia |  | Alonzo |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 8 | **confess** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Julia |  |  |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **return** | past · perfect | Julia |  |  |  |  | to the forest *result* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to forest=Result |
| 10 | **word** |  | Alonzo |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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