---
title: The sons were rather disappointed at hearing this, and though there… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The sons were rather disappointed at hearing this, and though there was plenty of meat to last for two or three days, they started off early in the morning down the same trail that they had followed before. Who acts: sons. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, pa
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 52

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The sons were rather disappointed at hearing this, and though there was plenty of meat to last for two or three days, they started off early in the morning down the same trail that they had followed before.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sons · **What happens:** be, hear, last, start off, follow · **To what, where:** this, plenty, same trail

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sons), 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:pg3282:14:52
# text = The sons were rather disappointed at hearing this, and though there was plenty of meat to last for two or three days, they started off early in the morning down the same trail that they had followed before.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	disappointed	disappointed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	hearing	hear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
8	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	13	expl	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	plenty	plenty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	last	last	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	acl	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	nummod	_	_
21	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	conj	_	_
23	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
27	off	off	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	_
28	early	early	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	26	advmod	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
32	down	down	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	trail	trail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
36	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	followed	follow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	acl:relcl	_	_
40	before	before	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the sons |  |  |  |  | disappointed *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | gerund | the sons *not said here* | this |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is a** | past | the sons *not said here* | plenty |  |  |  | of meat | tree rules |
| 4 | **last** | to-infinitive | the sons *not said here* |  |  |  | day |  | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **start off** | past | sons *= son* |  |  |  | morning | down the same trail; early *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 6 | **follow** | past · perfect · passive |  | the same trail |  |  |  | before *property* | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: subject=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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