---
title: The game the children loved the best was a match at archery, for the… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The game the children loved the best was a match at archery, for the king had given them two bows exactly alike, and they would spend whole days in trying to see which could shoot the highest. Who acts: game, king, children. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 22, sentence 128

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The game the children loved the best was a match at archery, for the king had given them two bows exactly alike, and they would spend whole days in trying to see which could shoot the highest.

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**Who acts:** game, king, children · **What happens:** love, be, give, spend, try, see · **To what, where:** best match, archery, children, highest · **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 22. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (game, king, children), 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:pg3282:22:128
# text = The game the children loved the best was a match at archery, for the king had given them two bows exactly alike, and they would spend whole days in trying to see which could shoot the highest.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	loved	love	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
7	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	10	amod	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	match	match	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	archery	archery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	bows	bow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
22	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	alike	alike	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	spend	spend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
29	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
31	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
32	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	advcl	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	37	nsubj	_	_
36	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	shoot	shoot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	ccomp	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	highest	high	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **love** | past | the game |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | the best match |  | archery |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **give** | past · perfect | the king | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient bow=Theme |
| 4 | **spend** | would | children *= child* |  |  |  | day |  | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **try** | gerund | children *= child* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **see** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | children *= child* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **shoot** | could |  | the highest |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent high=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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