---
title: As for the muleteer, he was informed very plainly that he had proved… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: As for the muleteer, he was informed very plainly that he had proved himself mean and ungrateful for the help that had been given him, and as a punishment he must pay to the poor man a fine of fifty pounds, and hand him over the mule till his tail had grown again. Who acts: man, you. A sentence of «
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As for the muleteer, he was informed very plainly that he had proved himself mean and ungrateful for the help that had been given him, and as a punishment he must pay to the poor man a fine of fifty pounds, and hand him over the mule till his tail had grown again.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, you · **What happens:** inform, prove, mean, give, pay, hand · **To what, where:** man, help, fine, fifty pounds · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, you), 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:pg3454:20:29
# text = As for the muleteer, he was informed very plainly that he had proved himself mean and ungrateful for the help that had been given him, and as a punishment he must pay to the poor man a fine of fifty pounds, and hand him over the mule till his tail had grown again.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	4	case	_	_
2	for	for	ADP	IN	_	1	fixed	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	muleteer	muleteer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	informed	inform	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	csubj	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	plainly	plainly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	proved	prove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	csubj	_	_
15	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	14	obj	_	_
16	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	ungrateful	ungrateful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	obj	_	_
23	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl:relcl	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
29	as	as	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	punishment	punishment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	fine	fine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	fifty	fifty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	43	nummod	_	_
43	pounds	pound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	hand	hand	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
47	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obj	_	_
48	over	over	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	mule	mule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
51	till	till	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
53	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obl	_	_
54	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
55	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	46	parataxis	_	_
56	again	again	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **inform** *speech: other* | past · passive |  | man |  |  |  | plainly *property* | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **prove** | past · perfect | man | man |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Theme |
| 3 | **mean** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | as the muleteer | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent as muleteer=Attribute |
| 4 | **give** | past · perfect · passive |  | the help | man |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: he=Recipient that=Theme |
| 5 | **pay** | must | man | a fine of fifty pounds |  |  |  | as a punishment; to the poor man | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fine=Asset |
| 6 | **hand** | infinitive |  | man |  |  |  | over the mule | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 7 | **grow** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  | till man's tail; again |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **fine** |  |  | fifty pounds |  |  |  |  | nom fine «possession transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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