---
title: The servants mounted their horses and rode after the Prince; but as… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The servants mounted their horses and rode after the Prince; but as they did not know which road he had taken, they went all ways except the right one, and instead of bringing him back they returned themselves when it grew dark, with their horses worn out and covered with dust. Who acts: servants, h
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Enchanted Canary, sentence 33

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The servants mounted their horses and rode after the Prince; but as they did not know which road he had taken, they went all ways except the right one, and instead of bringing him back they returned themselves when it grew dark, with their horses worn out and covered with dust.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** servants, horse, road, horses · **What happens:** mount, ride, not know, take, go, bring back · **To what, where:** horses, road, ways, horse, servants

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Enchanted Canary. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (servants, horse, road, horses), 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:pg540:40:33
# text = The servants mounted their horses and rode after the Prince; but as they did not know which road he had taken, they went all ways except the right one, and instead of bringing him back they returned themselves when it grew dark, with their horses worn out and covered with dust.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	mounted	mount	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	rode	ride	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	after	after	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	_
18	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	19	det	_	_
19	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
26	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	det	_	_
27	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl:unmarked	_	_
28	except	except	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	36	mark	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	fixed	_	_
36	bringing	bring	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	_
38	back	back	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
39	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	parataxis	_	_
41	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	40	obj	_	_
42	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	44	advmod	_	_
43	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	conj	_	_
45	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
47	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
48	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	nsubj	_	_
50	worn	wear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	44	conj	_	_
51	out	out	ADP	RP	_	50	compound:prt	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	50	conj	_	_
54	with	with	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mount** | past | the servants | servants's horses |  |  |  |  | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=Patient |
| 2 | **ride** | past | the servants *not said here* |  |  |  | after the Prince |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | servants *= servant* | which road |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer road=Stimulus |
| 4 | **take** | past · perfect | horse | which road *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent road=Theme |
| 5 | **go** | past | servants *= servant* | all ways |  |  |  | except the right one | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **bring back** | gerund | servants *= servant* *not said here* |  | horse |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Destination |
| 7 | **return** | past | servants *= servant* | servants *= servant* |  |  |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme |
| 8 | **grow** | past | road |  |  |  |  | dark *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **wear out** | participle | servants's horses |  |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **cover** | participle | servants's horses *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with dust | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent with dust=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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