---
title: But the most unhappy of all was the Town Counsellor, for he lost thr… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the most unhappy of all was the Town Counsellor, for he lost three little boys and two pretty little girls, and to crown all, the people of Hamel overwhelmed him with reproaches, forgetting that the evening before they had all agreed with him. Who acts: all, Hamel, people. A sentence of «The Red
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Ratcatcher, sentence 90

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the most unhappy of all was the Town Counsellor, for he lost three little boys and two pretty little girls, and to crown all, the people of Hamel overwhelmed him with reproaches, forgetting that the evening before they had all agreed with him.

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**Who acts:** all, Hamel, people · **What happens:** be, lose, crown, overwhelm, forget, agree · **To what, where:** three little boys, all, Hamel

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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 (all, Hamel, 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:pg540:32:90
# text = But the most unhappy of all was the Town Counsellor, for he lost three little boys and two pretty little girls, and to crown all, the people of Hamel overwhelmed him with reproaches, forgetting that the evening before they had all agreed with him.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	4	advmod	_	_
4	unhappy	unhappy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	Town	town	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	Counsellor	counsellor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
15	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
16	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nummod	_	_
20	pretty	pretty	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	crown	crown	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
27	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	Hamel	Hamel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
33	overwhelmed	overwhelm	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	reproaches	reproach	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
38	forgetting	forget	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	advcl	_	_
39	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	advcl	_	_
42	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
43	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
44	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
45	all	all	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
46	agreed	agree	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	38	advcl	_	_
47	with	with	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | all |  |  |  |  | of the Town Counsellor | tree rules |
| 2 | **lose** | past | Hamel | three little boys and two little girls |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boy=Eventuality |
| 3 | **crown** | to-infinitive | Hamel *not said here* | all |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent all=Theme |
| 4 | **overwhelm** | past | the people of Hamel | Hamel |  |  |  | with reproaches | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |
| 5 | **forget** | gerund | the people of Hamel *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past · perfect | people |  |  |  |  | with Hamel; all *property* | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.co-agent how S»: agent=Agent with he=Co-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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