---
title: For a moment the king and queen stared at their son, as if he had be… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: For a moment the king and queen stared at their son, as if he had been unknown to them; he had grown so thin and weak during his illness that his shoulders were bowed like those of an old man. Who acts: king. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 21, with it
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 21, sentence 105

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For a moment the king and queen stared at their son, as if he had been unknown to them; he had grown so thin and weak during his illness that his shoulders were bowed like those of an old man.

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**Who acts:** king · **What happens:** stare, be, grow, bow · **To what, where:** father, shoulders

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king), 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:pg3454:21:105
# text = For a moment the king and queen stared at their son, as if he had been unknown to them; he had grown so thin and weak during his illness that his shoulders were bowed like those of an old man.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
8	stared	stare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
14	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	cop	_	_
18	unknown	unknown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	parataxis	_	_
25	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	xcomp	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	weak	weak	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	_
29	during	during	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	illness	illness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	bowed	bow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	advcl	_	_
37	like	like	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	36	obl	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stare** | past | the king and queen |  |  |  | moment | at father's son | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at son=Theme |
| 2 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | king |  | father |  |  | unknown *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **grow** | past · perfect | king |  |  |  |  | thin *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **bow** | past · passive |  | king's shoulders |  |  |  | like those | vn curtsey-40.3.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |

<!-- .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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