---
title: “It is true—every word of it,” answered the boy; and went on to tell… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “It is true—every word of it,” answered the boy; and went on to tell that the day and even the hour were fixed when his bride was to come and seek him. Who acts: star, boy, bride. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23, sentence 77

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“It is true—every word of it,” answered the boy; and went on to tell that the day and even the hour were fixed when his bride was to come and seek him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** star, boy, bride · **What happens:** be, answer, go on, tell, fix, come · **To what, where:** day, boy, cask · **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 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (star, boy, bride), 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:pg3282:23:77
# text = “It is true—every word of it,” answered the boy; and went on to tell that the day and even the hour were fixed when his bride was to come and seek him.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
12	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	on	on	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	even	even	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	_
28	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	fixed	fix	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	advcl	_	_
30	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	bride	bride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	seek	seek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	conj	_	_
38	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | star |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **go on** | past | star *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | star *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **fix** | past · passive |  | the day and the hour |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **come** | past | boy's bride |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **seek** | infinitive | boy's bride *not said here* | boy |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 8 | **word** *in a quote* |  |  | cask |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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