--- title: The King was aghast when he heard that he had himself to put his chi… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The King was aghast when he heard that he had himself to put his children to death; but when he thought of Trusty John’s fidelity, and how he had even died for him, he drew his sword, and with his own hand cut the heads off his children. Who acts: King. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/41/109/) [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/) / [Trusty John](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/41/) / 109 # The Blue Fairy Book, Trusty John, sentence 109 The King was aghast when he heard that he had himself to put his children to death; but when he thought of Trusty John’s fidelity, and how he had even died for him, he drew his sword, and with his own hand cut the heads off his children. **Who acts:** King · **What happens:** be, hear, have, put, think, die · **To what, where:** king, children, sword, heads · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Trusty John. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King), 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:pg503:41:109 # text = The King was aghast when he heard that he had himself to put his children to death; but when he thought of Trusty John’s fidelity, and how he had even died for him, he drew his sword, and with his own hand cut the heads off his children. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 4 aghast aghast ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 7 advmod _ _ 6 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 7 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 advcl _ _ 8 that that SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 9 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 ccomp _ _ 11 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 10 obj _ _ 12 to to PART TO _ 13 mark _ _ 13 put put VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 xcomp _ _ 14 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 15 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obj _ _ 16 to to ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 death death NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 ; ; PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 19 but but CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 20 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 22 advmod _ _ 21 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 advcl _ _ 23 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 24 Trusty Trusty PROPN NNP Number=Sing 25 compound _ _ 25 John John PROPN NNP Number=Sing 27 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 26 ’s 's PART POS _ 25 case _ _ 27 fidelity fidelity NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 30 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 34 advmod _ _ 31 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 32 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 33 even even ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 34 died die VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 22 conj _ _ 35 for for ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 36 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 38 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 39 drew draw VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 40 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 44 with with ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 45 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 47 nmod:poss _ _ 46 own own ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obl _ _ 48 cut cut VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 conj _ _ 49 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 50 heads head NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 obj _ _ 51 off off ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 52 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 53 nmod:poss _ _ 53 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 54 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the King | | | | | aghast *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **hear** | past | king | | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 3 | **have** | past | king | king | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **put** | to-infinitive | king *not said here* | | king's children | | | to death | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent child=Goal | | 5 | **think** *speech: other* | past | king | | | | | of Trusty John's fidelity | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **die** | past · perfect | king | | | | | for John | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for he=Theme | | 7 | **draw** | past | king | king's sword | | | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme | | 8 | **cut** | past | king *not said here* | the heads | | | | with king's own hand; off king's children | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient with hand=Instrument | 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 108](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/41/108/) - next →: [sentence 110](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/41/110/) - ↑ back to [Trusty John](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/41/)