---
title: But the men did not know how this was to be done, and, shaking their… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the men did not know how this was to be done, and, shaking their heads over his obstinacy, left him to his fate. Who acts: men, man. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 33, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 33, sentence 109

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But the men did not know how this was to be done, and, shaking their heads over his obstinacy, left him to his fate.

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**Who acts:** men, man · **What happens:** not know, do, shake, leave, fate · **To what, where:** this, heads, obstinacy, man, fate · **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 33. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men, man), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3454:33:109
# text = But the men did not know how this was to be done, and, shaking their heads over his obstinacy, left him to his fate.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
8	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	shaking	shake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
19	over	over	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	obstinacy	obstinacy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	fate	fate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | the men |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **do** | past · passive |  | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 3 | **shake** | gerund | the men *not said here* | muleteers's heads |  | man's obstinacy |  |  | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent head=Theme over obstinacy=Trajectory |
| 4 | **leave** | past | the men *not said here* | man | man's fate |  |  |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Theme to fate=Recipient |
| 5 | **fate** |  | man |  |  |  |  |  | nom fate «event transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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