--- title: They were not willing at first; but she told them she would ask no w… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: They were not willing at first; but she told them she would ask no wages, and would give them diamonds, and pearls, and silk stuffs, and gold thread whenever they wished for them, and then they agreed to let her stay. Who acts: scissors, half. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/13/71/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Lilac Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/) / [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/13/) / 71 # The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 13, sentence 71 They were not willing at first; but she told them she would ask no wages, and would give them diamonds, and pearls, and silk stuffs, and gold thread whenever they wished for them, and then they agreed to let her stay. **Who acts:** scissors, half · **What happens:** not be, tell, ask, give, wish, agree · **To what, where:** scissors, wages, diamonds, half · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (scissors, half), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3454:13:71 # text = They were not willing at first; but she told them she would ask no wages, and would give them diamonds, and pearls, and silk stuffs, and gold thread whenever they wished for them, and then they agreed to let her stay. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 4 advmod _ _ 4 willing willing ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 at at ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 6 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 ; ; PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 but but CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 9 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 11 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 iobj _ _ 12 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 13 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 14 aux _ _ 14 ask ask VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 ccomp _ _ 15 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 16 det _ _ 16 wages wage NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 19 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ _ 20 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 parataxis _ _ 21 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 iobj _ _ 22 diamonds diamond NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 25 pearls pearl NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 28 silk silk NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 compound _ _ 29 stuffs stuff NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 32 gold gold NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 compound _ _ 33 thread thread NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 conj _ _ 34 whenever whenever ADV WRB PronType=Rel 36 advmod _ _ 35 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 36 wished wish VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 acl:relcl _ _ 37 for for ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 41 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 43 advmod _ _ 42 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 43 agreed agree VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 advcl _ _ 44 to to PART TO _ 45 mark _ _ 45 let let VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 43 xcomp _ _ 46 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 obj _ _ 47 stay stay VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 45 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **is** | past | scissors | | | | | silk stuffs *obl*; willing *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | half | | scissors | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | would | half | no wages | | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent wage=Recipient | | 4 | **give** | would | | diamonds | scissors | | | pearls *obl* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient diamond=Theme | | 5 | **wish** | past | scissors | | | | | for pearls *= pearl*; whenever *property* | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for they=Theme | | 6 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past | scissors | | | | then | | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 7 | **let** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | scissors *not said here* | half | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **stay** | infinitive | half *not said here* | | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **Text:** «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/13/70/) - next →: [sentence 72](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/13/72/) - ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/13/)