---
title: He was thinking of his mother and how poor they were since his fathe… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was thinking of his mother and how poor they were since his father, who was a fisherman, had been drowned at sea, and wondering what he should do to earn a living for both of them. Who acts: horse, father. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 16, with it
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 16, sentence 58

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was thinking of his mother and how poor they were since his father, who was a fisherman, had been drowned at sea, and wondering what he should do to earn a living for both of them.

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**Who acts:** horse, father · **What happens:** think, be, drown, wonder, do, earn · **To what, where:** fisherman, men, sea, living

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (horse, father), 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:pg3454:16:58
# text = He was thinking of his mother and how poor they were since his father, who was a fisherman, had been drowned at sea, and wondering what he should do to earn a living for both of them.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
9	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
12	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	fisherman	fisherman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	drowned	drown	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl:relcl	_	_
24	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	wondering	wonder	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
29	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	32	obj	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	earn	earn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	advcl	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	living	living	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	for	for	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	34	obl	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past · progressive | horse |  |  |  |  | of horse's mother | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | horse's father and a fisherman | a fisherman |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **drown** | past · perfect · passive |  | men *= man* |  | sea |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | gerund | horse *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **do** | should | horse |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 6 | **earn** | to-infinitive | horse *not said here* | a living |  |  |  | for both | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent living=Theme for both=Source |

<!-- .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 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.

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