---
title: Once upon a time there was a King who was so morose and disagreeable… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Once upon a time there was a King who was so morose and disagreeable that he was feared by all his subjects, and with good reason, as for the most trifling offences he would have their heads cut off. Who acts: King, subjects, heads. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Branc
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Golden Branch, part 1, sentence 1

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Once upon a time there was a King who was so morose and disagreeable that he was feared by all his subjects, and with good reason, as for the most trifling offences he would have their heads cut off.

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**Who acts:** King, subjects, heads · **What happens:** be, fear, trifle, have, cut off · **To what, where:** King, heads

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Branch, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, subjects, heads), 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:pg540:34:1
# text = Once upon a time there was a King who was so morose and disagreeable that he was feared by all his subjects, and with good reason, as for the most trifling offences he would have their heads cut off.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	_
2	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	morose	morose	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	ccomp	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	disagreeable	disagreeable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	conj	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	feared	fear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	advcl	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	22	det:predet	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	subjects	subject	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	as	as	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
30	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
32	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	33	advmod	_	_
33	trifling	trifle	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	34	amod	_	_
34	offences	offence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	appos	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	acl:relcl	_	_
38	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obj	_	_
40	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	xcomp	_	_
41	off	off	ADP	RP	_	40	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past |  |  |  | there |  | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | a King |  |  |  |  | morose *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | a King *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **fear** | past · passive | King's subjects | King |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Stimulus |
| 5 | **trifle** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn trifle-105.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **have** | would | King | offences's heads |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **cut off** | participle | offences's heads *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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