---
title: He thought a long while after his mother had told him the young man’… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He thought a long while after his mother had told him the young man’s story, and at last he said that he was hungry, and the cow must be killed, as he wanted some supper. Who acts: son. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 17, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 17, sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He thought a long while after his mother had told him the young man’s story, and at last he said that he was hungry, and the cow must be killed, as he wanted some supper.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** son · **What happens:** think, tell, say, be, kill, want · **To what, where:** mother, son, last, cow, supper · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (son), 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:pg3454:17:20
# text = He thought a long while after his mother had told him the young man’s story, and at last he said that he was hungry, and the cow must be killed, as he wanted some supper.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	ccomp	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	iobj	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	’s	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	_
16	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
26	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	parataxis	_	_
38	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	39	det	_	_
39	supper	supper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | son |  |  |  | while |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · perfect · passive |  | son's mother | son |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | son |  |  | last |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **is** | past | son |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **kill** | must · passive |  | the cow |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **want** | past | son | some supper |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot supper=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.

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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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