--- title: Peronnik was a poor idiot who belonged to nobody, and he would have… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Peronnik was a poor idiot who belonged to nobody, and he would have died of starvation if it had not been for the kindness of the village people, who gave him food whenever he chose to ask for it. Who acts: poor idiot, Peronnik, starvation, village people. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by And --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/26/56/) [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 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/26/) / 56 # The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 26, sentence 56 Peronnik was a poor idiot who belonged to nobody, and he would have died of starvation if it had not been for the kindness of the village people, who gave him food whenever he chose to ask for it. **Who acts:** poor idiot, Peronnik, starvation, village people · **What happens:** belong, die, not be, give, choose, ask · **To what, where:** food, Peronnik This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (poor idiot, Peronnik, starvation, village people), 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:pg3454:26:56 # text = Peronnik was a poor idiot who belonged to nobody, and he would have died of starvation if it had not been for the kindness of the village people, who gave him food whenever he chose to ask for it. 1 Peronnik Peronnik PROPN NNP Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 4 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 idiot idiot NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 6 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 7 nsubj _ _ 7 belonged belong VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 acl:relcl _ _ 8 to to ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 nobody nobody PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 12 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 13 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 14 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 15 aux _ _ 15 died die VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 5 parataxis _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 starvation starvation NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ _ 18 if if SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 19 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 20 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 21 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 25 advmod _ _ 22 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 25 cop _ _ 23 for for ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 kindness kindness NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 advcl _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 28 village village NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 compound _ _ 29 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 31 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 32 nsubj _ _ 32 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 acl:relcl _ _ 33 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 iobj _ _ 34 food food NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obj _ _ 35 whenever whenever ADV WRB PronType=Rel 37 advmod _ _ 36 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 37 chose choose VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 advcl _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 ask ask VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 xcomp _ _ 40 for for ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **belong** | past | a poor idiot | | | | | to nobody | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **die** | would · perfect | Peronnik | | | | | of starvation | vn die-42.4-1 «NP V PP.cause»: agent=Patient of starvation=Causer | | 3 | **not** **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | starvation | | | | | for the kindness; of the village people | tree rules | | 4 | **give** | past | the village people | food | Peronnik | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient food=Theme | | 5 | **choose** | past | Peronnik | | | | | whenever *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | Peronnik *not said here* | | | | | for starvation | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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 55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/26/55/) - next →: [sentence 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/26/57/) - ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/26/)