--- title: At her words the chief men of the city withdrew into one corner and… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: At her words the chief men of the city withdrew into one corner and took counsel together, and after a while the leader came forward and said that they had decided that it was best, for the peace and safety of all, that she should choose a husband for herself. Who acts: chief men, leader, lands, cou --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/31/27/) [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 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/31/) / 27 # The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 31, sentence 27 At her words the chief men of the city withdrew into one corner and took counsel together, and after a while the leader came forward and said that they had decided that it was best, for the peace and safety of all, that she should choose a husband for herself. **Who acts:** chief men, leader, lands, countess · **What happens:** withdraw, take, come forward, say, decide, be · **To what, where:** words, counsel, husband · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 31. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chief men, leader, lands, countess), 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:pg3454:31:27 # text = At her words the chief men of the city withdrew into one corner and took counsel together, and after a while the leader came forward and said that they had decided that it was best, for the peace and safety of all, that she should choose a husband for herself. 1 At at ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 3 nmod:poss _ _ 3 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obl _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 chief chief ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 nsubj _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 city city NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nmod _ _ 10 withdrew withdraw VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 11 into into ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 13 nummod _ _ 13 corner corner NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obl _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 15 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 conj _ _ 16 counsel counsel NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ _ 17 together together ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 20 after after ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 while while NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 leader leader NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nsubj _ _ 25 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 parataxis _ _ 26 forward forward ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 28 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 conj _ _ 29 that that SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 30 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 31 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 32 decided decide VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 28 ccomp _ _ 33 that that SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 expl _ _ 35 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 cop _ _ 36 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 32 obl:agent _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 38 for for ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 peace peace NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 parataxis _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 42 safety safety NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 conj _ _ 43 of of ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 44 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 42 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 46 that that SCONJ IN _ 49 mark _ _ 47 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 49 nsubj _ _ 48 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 49 aux _ _ 49 choose choose VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 32 conj _ _ 50 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 husband husband NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 obj _ _ 52 for for ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 53 herself herself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 49 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 54 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **withdraw** | past | the chief men of the city | | | countess's words | | into one corner | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into corner=Initial\_Location | | 2 | **take** | past | the chief men of the city *not said here* | counsel | | | | together *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent counsel=Theme | | 3 | **come forward** | past | the leader | | | | while | forward *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the leader *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **decide** | past · perfect | lands *= land* | | | | | | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is** | past | | | | | | good *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **choose** | should | countess | a husband | | | | for countess | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent husband=Theme for herself=Beneficiary | | 8 | **word** | | countess | | | | | | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=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 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/31/26/) - next →: [sentence 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/31/28/) - ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/31/)