---
title: The chief answered that he would not kill them, but only cast a spel… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The chief answered that he would not kill them, but only cast a spell over them, by which their heads and bodies should remain as they were, but their arms and legs should change into those of a bear, so that they would go on all fours for the rest of their lives. Who acts: chief, heads, servants, a
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 85

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The chief answered that he would not kill them, but only cast a spell over them, by which their heads and bodies should remain as they were, but their arms and legs should change into those of a bear, so that they would go on all fours for the rest of their lives.

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**Who acts:** chief, heads, servants, arms · **What happens:** answer, not kill, cast, remain, be, change · **To what, where:** servants, spell, those, fours · **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 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief, heads, servants, arms), 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:pg3282:14:85
# text = The chief answered that he would not kill them, but only cast a spell over them, by which their heads and bodies should remain as they were, but their arms and legs should change into those of a bear, so that they would go on all fours for the rest of their lives.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chief	chief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	only	only	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	cast	cast	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	spell	spell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	over	over	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	obl	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	bodies	body	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	conj	_	_
25	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	remain	remain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
31	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
32	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nsubj	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	conj	_	_
36	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
38	into	into	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	37	obl	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
44	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	48	mark	_	_
45	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	fixed	_	_
46	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	conj	_	_
49	on	on	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	51	det	_	_
51	fours	four	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obl	_	_
52	for	for	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
57	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the chief |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **kill** | would | chief | servants *= servant* |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 3 | **cast** | infinitive | the chief *not said here* | a spell |  |  |  | over servants *= servant* | vn throw-17.1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent spell=Theme over they=Destination |
| 4 | **remain** | should | servants's heads and bodies |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by which=Location |
| 5 | **be** | past | servants *= servant* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **change** | should | servants's arms and legs |  |  |  |  | into those *result* | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.result»: agent=Patient into that=Result |
| 7 | **go** | would | servants *= servant* |  |  | all fours |  | for the rest of servants's lives | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent on four=Location for rest=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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