---
title: We were all so horrified at the sight, that we should most likely ha… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: We were all so horrified at the sight, that we should most likely have killed the man then and there, for daring to lay hands on the prince, had not his grandfather the duke stepped between and commanded us to lay the affair before you.’ Who acts: grandfather. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 3, sentence 42

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We were all so horrified at the sight, that we should most likely have killed the man then and there, for daring to lay hands on the prince, had not his grandfather the duke stepped between and commanded us to lay the affair before you.’

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**Who acts:** grandfather · **What happens:** horrify, kill, dare, lay, have, not step · **To what, where:** We, sight, hands, us, affair · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (grandfather), 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:pg3454:3:42
# text = We were all so horrified at the sight, that we should most likely have killed the man then and there, for daring to lay hands on the prince, had not his grandfather the duke stepped between and commanded us to lay the affair before you.’
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	all	all	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	horrified	horrify	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
11	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
13	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	14	advmod	_	_
14	likely	likely	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
15	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	aux	_	_
16	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	advmod	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
24	daring	dare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
32	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	grandfather	grandfather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	duke	duke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
38	stepped	step	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	advcl	_	_
39	between	between	ADP	IN	_	38	obl	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
41	commanded	command	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	_
42	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	advcl	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	affair	affair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
47	before	before	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **horrify** | past · passive |  | We |  | the sight |  | all *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **kill** | should · perfect · passive |  | we |  |  | then | likely *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer man=Result |
| 3 | **dare** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **lay** | to-infinitive |  | hands |  |  |  | on the prince | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent hand=Theme on prince=Destination |
| 5 | **have** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **not** **step** | past | Man's grandfather |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **command** | past | Man's grandfather *not said here* | us |  |  |  |  | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent we=Theme |
| 8 | **lay** | to-infinitive | Man's grandfather *not said here* | the affair |  |  | before you |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent affair=Theme before you=Destination |

<!-- .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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