---
title: At last the Prime Minister began to be afraid that the King would be… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At last the Prime Minister began to be afraid that the King would be starved to death, so he resolved to hide himself in some dark corner of the kitchen, and never take his eyes off the cooking-pot. Who acts: thing. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Princess Rosette, with its depend
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Princess Rosette, sentence 245

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At last the Prime Minister began to be afraid that the King would be starved to death, so he resolved to hide himself in some dark corner of the kitchen, and never take his eyes off the cooking-pot.

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**Who acts:** thing · **What happens:** begin, be, starve, resolve, hide, not take · **To what, where:** last Prime Minister, King, thing, dark corner, eyes, cooking pot

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Princess Rosette. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thing), 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:pg540:11:245
# text = At last the Prime Minister began to be afraid that the King would be starved to death, so he resolved to hide himself in some dark corner of the kitchen, and never take his eyes off the cooking-pot.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	Prime	Prime	PROPN	NNP	_	5	compound	_	_
5	Minister	Minister	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
6	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
9	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	xcomp	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	starved	starve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	ccomp	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	resolved	resolve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	hide	hide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	23	obj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	28	det	_	_
27	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
35	take	take	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obj	_	_
38	off	off	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
40	cooking	cooking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past |  |  |  | the last Prime Minister |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **starve** | would · passive |  | the King |  |  |  | to death | tree rules |
| 4 | **resolve** | past | thing |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **hide** | to-infinitive | thing *not said here* | thing |  | some dark corner of the kitchen |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent himself=Patient in corner=Location |
| 6 | **not** **take** | infinitive |  | thing's eyes |  | the cooking pot |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent eye=Theme off pot=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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