---
title: Now the Afghans began to look a little uncomfortable, but Moti seeme… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now the Afghans began to look a little uncomfortable, but Moti seemed so determined to keep the horse that they resolved to appeal to the law, so they went off and laid a complaint before the king that Moti had stolen one of their horses and would not give it up nor pay for it. Who acts: Afghans, Mo
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/15/63/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/15/) / 63

# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 15, sentence 63

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now the Afghans began to look a little uncomfortable, but Moti seemed so determined to keep the horse that they resolved to appeal to the law, so they went off and laid a complaint before the king that Moti had stolen one of their horses and would not give it up nor pay for it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Afghans, Moti, horses · **What happens:** begin, look, seem, keep, resolve, appeal · **To what, where:** horse, complaint, Moti

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Afghans, Moti, horses), 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:pg3454:15:63
# text = Now the Afghans began to look a little uncomfortable, but Moti seemed so determined to keep the horse that they resolved to appeal to the law, so they went off and laid a complaint before the king that Moti had stolen one of their horses and would not give it up nor pay for it.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Afghans	Afghan	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	uncomfortable	uncomfortable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	Moti	Moti	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	determined	determined	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	resolved	resolve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	appeal	appeal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
32	off	off	ADP	RP	_	31	compound:prt	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	complaint	complaint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	before	before	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
41	Moti	Moti	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	stolen	steal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	advcl	_	_
44	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	43	obj	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nmod	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
49	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
50	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	51	advmod	_	_
51	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	conj	_	_
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	obj	_	_
53	up	up	ADP	RP	_	51	compound:prt	_	_
54	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	55	cc	_	_
55	pay	pay	VERB	VB	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	51	conj	_	_
56	for	for	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the Afghans |  |  |  | now |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **look** | to-infinitive | the Afghans *not said here* |  |  |  |  | uncomfortable *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **seem** | past | Moti |  |  |  |  | determined *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **keep** | to-infinitive | Moti *not said here* | the horse |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=Theme |
| 5 | **resolve** | past | horses *= horse* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **appeal** | to-infinitive | horses *= horse* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the law | vn appeal-31.4-2 «NP V PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus to law=Experiencer |
| 7 | **go off** | past | horses *= horse* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **lay** | past | horses *= horse* *not said here* | a complaint |  |  | before the king |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent complaint=Theme before king=Destination |
| 9 | **steal** | past · perfect · passive |  | Moti |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary one=Theme |
| 10 | **not** **give up** | would | horses *= horse* *not said here* | complaint |  |  |  |  | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Source |
| 11 | **pay** | infinitive | horses *= horse* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for complaint | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent for it=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/15/62/)
- next →: [sentence 64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/15/64/)
- ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/15/)