---
title: But the villagers declared that they could not decide which was the… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the villagers declared that they could not decide which was the most foolish—the man who allowed himself to be persuaded that he was wearing fine clothes when he was dressed in nothing, or the man who let himself be buried when he was alive and well. Who acts: villagers, foolish man, man. A sent
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 30, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the villagers declared that they could not decide which was the most foolish—the man who allowed himself to be persuaded that he was wearing fine clothes when he was dressed in nothing, or the man who let himself be buried when he was alive and well.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** villagers, foolish man, man · **What happens:** declare, not decide, be, allow, persuade, wear · **To what, where:** foolish man, man, fine clothes, nothing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (villagers, foolish man, man), 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:pg3282:30:19
# text = But the villagers declared that they could not decide which was the most foolish—the man who allowed himself to be persuaded that he was wearing fine clothes when he was dressed in nothing, or the man who let himself be buried when he was alive and well.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	villagers	villager	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	declared	declare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	decide	decide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
10	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
13	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	14	advmod	_	_
14	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	ccomp	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
19	allowed	allow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
20	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	19	obj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	persuaded	persuade	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	xcomp	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	wearing	wear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
28	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	27	obj	_	_
30	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	33	advmod	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	dressed	dress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	advcl	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
40	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	41	nsubj	_	_
41	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	acl:relcl	_	_
42	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	41	obj	_	_
43	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	aux:pass	_	_
44	buried	bury	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	41	xcomp	_	_
45	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	48	mark	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	cop	_	_
48	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	advcl	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	48	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | the villagers |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **decide** | could | villagers *= villager* |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | the foolish man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **allow** | past | the foolish man | man |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer himself=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **persuade** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive · passive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP» |
| 6 | **wear** | past · progressive | man | fine clothes |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent clothes=Source |
| 7 | **dress** | past · passive |  | man |  | nothing |  | the man *obl* | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 8 | **let** | past | the man | man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **bury** | infinitive · passive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP» |
| 10 | **is** | past | man |  |  |  |  | alive *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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