---
title: The stranger sent word to the counsellors that, if they would make i… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The stranger sent word to the counsellors that, if they would make it worth his while, he would rid them of all their rats before night, down to the very last. Who acts: stranger, counsellors. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Ratcatcher, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Ratcatcher, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The stranger sent word to the counsellors that, if they would make it worth his while, he would rid them of all their rats before night, down to the very last.

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**Who acts:** stranger, counsellors · **What happens:** send, make, rid · **To what, where:** word, counsellors

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Ratcatcher. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stranger, counsellors), 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:pg540:32:17
# text = The stranger sent word to the counsellors that, if they would make it worth his while, he would rid them of all their rats before night, down to the very last.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	counsellors	counsellor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	while	while	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	rid	rid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	26	det:predet	_	_
25	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
27	before	before	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	down	down	ADV	RB	_	21	parataxis	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	very	very	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past | the stranger | word |  | the counsellors |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent word=Theme to counsellor=Destination |
| 2 | **make** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | counsellors *= counsellor* | word |  |  | while | worth *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product |
| 3 | **rid** | would | stranger | counsellors *= counsellor* |  |  | night | of counsellors's rats | vn deprive-10.6.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent they=Source of rat=Theme |

<!-- .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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