--- title: At last one night he stole upon some soldiers while they were asleep… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: At last one night he stole upon some soldiers while they were asleep in a barn and killed them, and persuaded the villagers that if THEY did not kill the other soldiers before morning they would certainly be killed themselves. Who acts: Lad, friends. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew La --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/91/) [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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/) / 91 # The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 2, sentence 91 At last one night he stole upon some soldiers while they were asleep in a barn and killed them, and persuaded the villagers that if THEY did not kill the other soldiers before morning they would certainly be killed themselves. **Who acts:** Lad, friends · **What happens:** steal, be, kill, persuade, not kill · **To what, where:** soldiers, barn, friends, villagers This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lad, friends), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3454:2:91 # text = At last one night he stole upon some soldiers while they were asleep in a barn and killed them, and persuaded the villagers that if THEY did not kill the other soldiers before morning they would certainly be killed themselves. 1 At at ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 2 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 3 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 compound _ _ 4 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 5 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 stole steal VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 upon upon ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 9 det _ _ 9 soldiers soldier NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 obl _ _ 10 while while SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 11 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 12 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 cop _ _ 13 asleep asleep ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 advcl _ _ 14 in in ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 barn barn NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 18 killed kill VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 19 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 persuaded persuade VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 villagers villager NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 obj _ _ 25 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 30 obj _ _ 26 if if SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 27 THEY they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 28 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 29 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 30 advmod _ _ 30 kill kill VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 acl:relcl _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 32 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 33 soldiers soldier NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obj _ _ 34 before before SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 35 morning morning NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl:unmarked _ _ 36 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj:pass _ _ 37 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 38 certainly certainly ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 39 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 40 aux:pass _ _ 40 killed kill VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 30 advcl _ _ 41 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 40 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **steal** | past | Lad | | | some soldiers | night | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon soldier=Location | | 2 | **is** | past | friends *= friend* | | | a barn | | asleep *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **kill** | past | Lad *not said here* | friends *= friend* | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | | 4 | **persuade** | past | Lad *not said here* | the villagers | | | | | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent villager=Patient | | 5 | **not** **kill** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · do-support | friends *= friend* | the villagers | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Stimulus that=Experiencer soldier=Result | | 6 | **kill** | would · passive | | friends *= friend* | | | morning | certainly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer themselves=Result | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 90](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/90/) - next →: [sentence 92](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/92/) - ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/2/)