---
title: Maurice was well fitted to be their king, if they wanted one that co… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Maurice was well fitted to be their king, if they wanted one that could make them dance; and he surely would drink, barring the salt water, with any fish of them all. Who acts: king, one, Maurice. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18, with its dependency
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18, sentence 58

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Maurice was well fitted to be their king, if they wanted one that could make them dance; and he surely would drink, barring the salt water, with any fish of them all.

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**Who acts:** king, one, Maurice · **What happens:** fit, be, want, make, dance, drink · **To what, where:** Maurice, king, salt water

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, one, Maurice), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3454:18:58
# text = Maurice was well fitted to be their king, if they wanted one that could make them dance; and he surely would drink, barring the salt water, with any fish of them all.
1	Maurice	Maurice	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
4	fitted	fit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nsubj	_	_
14	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
15	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	ccomp	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	barring	bar	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	33	det	_	_
33	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nmod	_	_
36	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	35	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fit** | past · passive |  | Maurice |  |  |  | well *property* | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | to-infinitive |  | king's king |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **want** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **make** | could | one | king |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **dance** | infinitive | king *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **drink** | would | Maurice |  |  |  |  | surely *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **bar** | gerund | Maurice *not said here* | the salt water |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer water=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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