---
title: So they thought and thought, but they could not tell what to do, unt… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So they thought and thought, but they could not tell what to do, until at last the Queen heard that in a great forest near the castle there was an old hermit, who lived in a hollow tree, and that people came from far and near to consult him; so she said: Who acts: sons, last, old hermit, people. A s
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Princess Rosette, sentence 25

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So they thought and thought, but they could not tell what to do, until at last the Queen heard that in a great forest near the castle there was an old hermit, who lived in a hollow tree, and that people came from far and near to consult him; so she said:

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**Who acts:** sons, last, old hermit, people, Queen · **What happens:** think, not tell, do, hear, live, come · **To what, where:** hollow tree, hermit · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (sons, last, old hermit, people), 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:pg540:11:25
# text = So they thought and thought, but they could not tell what to do, until at last the Queen heard that in a great forest near the castle there was an old hermit, who lived in a hollow tree, and that people came from far and near to consult him; so she said:
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
12	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	obj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	nsubj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
21	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	ccomp	_	_
27	near	near	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
30	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	31	expl	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	acl:relcl	_	_
32	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	hermit	hermit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	37	nsubj	_	_
37	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	acl:relcl	_	_
38	in	in	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	hollow	hollow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
44	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
45	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	nsubj	_	_
46	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
47	from	from	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	46	advmod	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	near	near	ADV	RB	_	48	conj	_	_
51	to	to	PART	TO	_	52	mark	_	_
52	consult	consult	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	advcl	_	_
53	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
55	so	so	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
56	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
57	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	57	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | sons *= son* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | sons *= son* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | could | sons *= son* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 5 | **hear** | past | last |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **live** | past | a old hermit |  |  | a hollow tree |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in tree=Location |
| 7 | **come** | past | people |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **consult** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* | hermit |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 9 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Queen |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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