---
title: The king inquired if he had any excuse to plead for the high treason… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The king inquired if he had any excuse to plead for the high treason he had committed by striking the heir to the throne, and, if so, to be quick in setting it forth. Who acts: prisoner. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 3, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 3, sentence 80

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The king inquired if he had any excuse to plead for the high treason he had committed by striking the heir to the throne, and, if so, to be quick in setting it forth.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** prisoner · **What happens:** inquire, have, plead, commit, strike, be · **To what, where:** king, excuse, high treason, heir

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (prisoner), 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:pg3454:3:80
# text = The king inquired if he had any excuse to plead for the high treason he had committed by striking the heir to the throne, and, if so, to be quick in setting it forth.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	inquired	inquire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	excuse	excuse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	plead	plead	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	treason	treason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	committed	commit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	acl:relcl	_	_
18	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	striking	strike	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	heir	heir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	throne	throne	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
28	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	33	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	cop	_	_
33	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
34	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
35	setting	set	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	advcl	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **inquire** *speech: other* | participle |  | the king *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | prisoner | any excuse |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent excuse=Patient |
| 3 | **plead** *speech: request* | to-infinitive | prisoner *not said here* | any excuse *not said here* |  |  |  | for the high treason | tree rules |
| 4 | **commit** | past · perfect | prisoner | the high treason *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent treason=Theme |
| 5 | **strike** | gerund | prisoner *not said here* | the heir |  |  |  | to the throne *result* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent heir=Patient to throne=Result |
| 6 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | quick *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **set** | gerund |  | heir |  |  |  | forth *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient it=Result |

<!-- .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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