---
title: He knew all the common fruits, so he thought he ought to be able to… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He knew all the common fruits, so he thought he ought to be able to guess right; but so as not to let it seem too easy, he gazed up at the ceiling with a puzzled expression, and looked down at the floor with an air or wisdom and his fingers pressed against his forehead, and then he said, slowly, wit
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/15/79/)

<!-- 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/) / 79

# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 15, sentence 79

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He knew all the common fruits, so he thought he ought to be able to guess right; but so as not to let it seem too easy, he gazed up at the ceiling with a puzzled expression, and looked down at the floor with an air or wisdom and his fingers pressed against his forehead, and then he said, slowly, with his eyes on the king,--

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Moti, riddle, fingers · **What happens:** know, think, be, guess, not let, seem · **To what, where:** common fruits, riddle, eyes · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .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 (Moti, riddle, fingers), 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:pg3454:15:79
# text = He knew all the common fruits, so he thought he ought to be able to guess right; but so as not to let it seem too easy, he gazed up at the ceiling with a puzzled expression, and looked down at the floor with an air or wisdom and his fingers pressed against his forehead, and then he said, slowly, with his eyes on the king,--
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	fruits	fruit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
12	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	cop	_	_
15	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	ccomp	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	guess	guess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	right	right	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
21	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	seem	seem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	too	too	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	gazed	gaze	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
33	up	up	ADP	RP	_	32	compound:prt	_	_
34	at	at	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	ceiling	ceiling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
37	with	with	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	puzzled	puzzle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	amod	_	_
40	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
44	down	down	ADP	RP	_	43	compound:prt	_	_
45	at	at	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
48	with	with	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
51	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	conj	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
54	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	fingers	finger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	nsubj	_	_
56	pressed	press	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	conj	_	_
57	against	against	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	59	nmod:poss	_	_
59	forehead	forehead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
62	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	64	advmod	_	_
63	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
64	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
66	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	64	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
68	with	with	ADP	IN	_	70	case	_	_
69	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	70	nmod:poss	_	_
70	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	64	obj	_	_
71	on	on	ADP	IN	_	73	case	_	_
72	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	73	det	_	_
73	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | Moti | all common fruits |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer fruit=Stimulus |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Moti |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | ought | Moti |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **guess** | to-infinitive | Moti *not said here* |  |  |  |  | right *property* | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **let** | to-infinitive | Moti *not said here* | riddle |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **seem** | infinitive | riddle *not said here* |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **gaze up** | past | Moti |  |  |  |  | with a puzzled expression; at the ceiling | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at ceiling=Theme |
| 8 | **puzzle** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 9 | **look down** | past |  |  |  |  |  | with a air or wisdom; at the floor | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at floor=Theme |
| 10 | **press** | past | Moti's fingers |  |  |  |  | against Moti's forehead | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent against forehead=Theme |
| 11 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Moti | Moti's eyes |  |  | then | on the king; slowly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent eye=Topic |

<!-- .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 78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/15/78/)
- next →: [sentence 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/15/80/)
- ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/15/)