---
title: But the King spake: “Silence! let him alone; he is ever my most trus… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the King spake: “Silence! let him alone; he is ever my most trusty John. Who acts: King spake, spake. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Trusty John, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Trusty John, sentence 85

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But the King spake: “Silence! let him alone; he is ever my most trusty John.

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**Who acts:** King spake, spake · **What happens:** let, be · **To what, where:** Silence, trusty John

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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 spake, spake), 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:pg503:41:85
# text = But the King spake: “Silence! let him alone; he is ever my most trusty John.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	spake	speak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
9	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
15	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	19	advmod	_	_
16	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
17	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	18	advmod	_	_
18	trusty	trusty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive | the King spake | Silence |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | spake *= speak* | my trusty John |  |  | ever |  | tree rules |

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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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