---
title: Now the King, though he felt that he was growing old, did not at all… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now the King, though he felt that he was growing old, did not at all wish to give up the government of his kingdom while he could still manage it very well, so he thought the best way to live in peace would be to divert the minds of his sons by promises which he could always get out of when the time
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The White Cat, part 1, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now the King, though he felt that he was growing old, did not at all wish to give up the government of his kingdom while he could still manage it very well, so he thought the best way to live in peace would be to divert the minds of his sons by promises which he could always get out of when the time came for keeping them.

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**Who acts:** King, best way, time · **What happens:** feel, grow, do, give up, manage, think · **To what, where:** wish, government, peace, promises, sons · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Cat, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, best way, time), 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:pg503:23:2
# text = Now the King, though he felt that he was growing old, did not at all wish to give up the government of his kingdom while he could still manage it very well, so he thought the best way to live in peace would be to divert the minds of his sons by promises which he could always get out of when the time came for keeping them.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	det	_	_
18	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl	_	_
21	up	up	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	government	government	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
27	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	still	still	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	manage	manage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	advcl	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	very	very	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	so	so	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	41	amod	_	_
41	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nsubj	_	_
42	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
43	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	acl	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	peace	peace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
46	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
47	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	cop	_	_
48	to	to	PART	TO	_	49	mark	_	_
49	divert	divert	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	ccomp	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	minds	mind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obj	_	_
52	of	of	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	nmod	_	_
55	by	by	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	promises	promise	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obl	_	_
57	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	61	obj	_	_
58	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	nsubj	_	_
59	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
60	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	61	advmod	_	_
61	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	acl:relcl	_	_
62	out	out	ADP	IN	_	61	advmod	_	_
63	of	of	ADP	IN	_	62	fixed	_	_
64	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	67	mark	_	_
65	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	66	det	_	_
66	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	nsubj	_	_
67	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	61	advcl	_	_
68	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	69	mark	_	_
69	keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	67	advcl	_	_
70	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	69	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | past | the King |  |  |  | now |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **grow** | past · progressive | king |  |  |  |  | old *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **do** | past | the King *not said here* | all wish |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wish=Eventuality |
| 4 | **give up** | to-infinitive | the King *not said here* | the government of king's kingdom |  |  |  |  | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent government=Source |
| 5 | **manage** | could | king | government |  |  | still | well *property* | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | past | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 7 | **live** | to-infinitive | the best way *not said here* |  |  | peace |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in peace=Location |
| 8 | **is** | would | the best way |  |  |  |  | by promises; divert *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **get out** | could | king | promises |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **come** | past | the time |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 11 | **keep** | gerund | the time *not said here* | sons *= son* |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 12 | **mind** |  |  | king's sons |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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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