---
title: The charcoal-burner and his wife both stared at him for a moment, as… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The charcoal-burner and his wife both stared at him for a moment, as if they could hardly believe their ears; and, indeed, it was not to be wondered at! Who acts: charcoal burner, burner. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 7, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 7, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The charcoal-burner and his wife both stared at him for a moment, as if they could hardly believe their ears; and, indeed, it was not to be wondered at!

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** charcoal burner, burner · **What happens:** stare, believe, not wonder · **To what, where:** ears, thing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (charcoal burner, burner), 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:pg3454:7:38
# text = The charcoal-burner and his wife both stared at him for a moment, as if they could hardly believe their ears; and, indeed, it was not to be wondered at!
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	charcoal	charcoal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	burner	burner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
8	both	both	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	stared	stare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
17	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	parataxis	_	_
22	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
27	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux:pass	_	_
31	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
33	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	wondered	wonder	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	parataxis	_	_
35	at	at	ADP	IN	_	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stare** | past | the charcoal burner and Paradise's wife |  |  |  | moment | at Paradise; both *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at he=Theme |
| 2 | **believe** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | burner | burner's ears |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer ear=Stimulus |
| 3 | **not** **wonder** *speech: ask* | past · passive |  | thing |  |  |  | indeed *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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