--- title: He spoke to the boy, and asked him why he was so unhappy; and the bo… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: He spoke to the boy, and asked him why he was so unhappy; and the boy told him how he had sworn to bring the Terrible Head, and knew not how to begin to set about the adventure. Who acts: man, boy. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Terrible Head, with its dependency tree and th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/27/33/) [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 Blue Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/) / [The Terrible Head](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/27/) / 33 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Terrible Head, sentence 33 He spoke to the boy, and asked him why he was so unhappy; and the boy told him how he had sworn to bring the Terrible Head, and knew not how to begin to set about the adventure. **Who acts:** man, boy · **What happens:** speak, ask, be, tell, swear, bring · **To what, where:** man, Terrible Head · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Terrible Head. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, boy), 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:pg503:27:33 # text = He spoke to the boy, and asked him why he was so unhappy; and the boy told him how he had sworn to bring the Terrible Head, and knew not how to begin to set about the adventure. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 spoke speak VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 to to ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 7 and and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 8 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 9 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 iobj _ _ 10 why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 14 advmod _ _ 11 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 12 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 cop _ _ 13 so so ADV RB _ 14 advmod _ _ 14 unhappy unhappy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 ; ; PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nsubj _ _ 19 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 20 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 iobj _ _ 21 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 24 advmod _ _ 22 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 23 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 24 sworn swear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 19 ccomp _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 bring bring VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 xcomp _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 28 Terrible terrible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 Head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 32 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 33 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 32 advmod _ _ 34 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 36 advmod _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 begin begin VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 32 ccomp _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 set set VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 xcomp _ _ 39 about about ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 adventure adventure NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | man | | | | | to the boy | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to boy=Co-Agent | | 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | man *not said here* | | man | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 3 | **is** | past | man | | | | | unhappy *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the boy | | man | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | | 5 | **swear** | past · perfect | man | | | | | | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 6 | **bring** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | the Terrible Head | | | | | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent head=Theme | | 7 | **not** **know** | past | | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 8 | **begin** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 9 | **set** | to-infinitive | | | | | | about the adventure | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent about adventure=Destination | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/27/32/) - next →: [sentence 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/27/34/) - ↑ back to [The Terrible Head](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/27/)