---
title: The brothers were not very willing to set out again, but the two eld… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The brothers were not very willing to set out again, but the two eldest consented because it gave them another chance, and they started as before. Who acts: brothers, kingdom. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Cat, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The White Cat, part 1, sentence 86

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The brothers were not very willing to set out again, but the two eldest consented because it gave them another chance, and they started as before.

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**Who acts:** brothers, kingdom · **What happens:** not be, set out, consent, give, start · **To what, where:** two, chance, brothers

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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 (brothers, kingdom), 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:pg503:23:86
# text = The brothers were not very willing to set out again, but the two eldest consented because it gave them another chance, and they started as before.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	willing	willing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	out	out	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	again	again	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	eldest	eld	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	16	advmod	_	_
16	consented	consent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
17	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	iobj	_	_
21	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	22	det	_	_
22	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
27	as	as	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	before	before	ADV	RB	_	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | the brothers |  |  |  |  | willing *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **set out** | to-infinitive | the brothers *not said here* |  |  |  | again |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **consent** | participle · passive |  | the two |  |  |  | eld *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **give** | past | kingdom | another chance | brothers *= brother* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient chance=Theme |
| 5 | **start** | past | brothers *= brother* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

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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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