---
title: Many were the quarrels which the old rat and his wife had upon the s… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Many were the quarrels which the old rat and his wife had upon the subject, and sometimes they bore on their faces certain marks which looked as if they had not kept to words only. Who acts: Many quarrels, quarrels, certain marks. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 17, sentence 43

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Many were the quarrels which the old rat and his wife had upon the subject, and sometimes they bore on their faces certain marks which looked as if they had not kept to words only.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Many quarrels, quarrels, certain marks · **What happens:** be, rat, have, bore, look, not keep · **To what, where:** Many quarrels, certain marks, faces, quarrels

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Many quarrels, quarrels, certain marks), 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:pg3282:17:43
# text = Many were the quarrels which the old rat and his wife had upon the subject, and sometimes they bore on their faces certain marks which looked as if they had not kept to words only.
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	quarrels	quarrel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
12	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	20	advmod	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	bore	bore	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	faces	face	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
24	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	marks	mark	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
27	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	acl:relcl	_	_
28	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
29	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
33	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	ccomp	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	_
36	only	only	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the Many quarrels |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **rat** |  | the Many quarrels |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | past | the Many quarrels |  |  |  |  | upon the subject | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **bore** | present | quarrels *= quarrel* | certain marks |  | quarrels's faces |  | sometimes *property* | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent on face=Location |
| 5 | **look** | past | certain marks |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **keep** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | quarrels *= quarrel* |  |  |  | to words | vn keep-15.2 «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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