---
title: But when he looked at them he found that they were written in a forg… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But when he looked at them he found that they were written in a forgotten language, and he could not understand a single word, though he amused himself with trying. Who acts: prince. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Branch, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragma
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Golden Branch, part 1, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But when he looked at them he found that they were written in a forgotten language, and he could not understand a single word, though he amused himself with trying.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** prince · **What happens:** look, find, write, forget, not understand, amuse · **To what, where:** rooms, forgotten language, single word, prince

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (prince), 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:pg540:34:21
# text = But when he looked at them he found that they were written in a forgotten language, and he could not understand a single word, though he amused himself with trying.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	advcl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	forgotten	forget	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	amod	_	_
16	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	parataxis	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	amused	amuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
30	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	29	obj	_	_
31	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
32	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | past | prince |  |  |  |  | at rooms *= room* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at they=Theme |
| 2 | **find** | past | prince |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **write** | past · passive |  | rooms *= room* |  | a forgotten language |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in language=Destination |
| 4 | **forget** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **understand** | could | prince | a single word |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer word=Stimulus |
| 6 | **amuse** | past | prince | prince |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus himself=Experiencer |
| 7 | **try** | gerund | prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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