---
title: Now Burchard had such a wicked, cruel heart, that it was whispered h… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now Burchard had such a wicked, cruel heart, that it was whispered how he used to harness his peasants to the plough, and force them by blows from his whip to till his land with naked feet. Who acts: Burchard. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nettle Spinner, with its dependency
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Nettle Spinner, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now Burchard had such a wicked, cruel heart, that it was whispered how he used to harness his peasants to the plough, and force them by blows from his whip to till his land with naked feet.

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**Who acts:** Burchard · **What happens:** have, whisper, use, harness, force · **To what, where:** wicked cruel heart, heart, peasants, whip

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nettle Spinner. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Burchard), 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:pg540:42:3
# text = Now Burchard had such a wicked, cruel heart, that it was whispered how he used to harness his peasants to the plough, and force them by blows from his whip to till his land with naked feet.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	Burchard	Burchard	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	9	det:predet	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
6	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
8	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	whispered	whisper	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
15	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	harness	harness	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	peasants	peasant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	plough	plough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	force	force	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	by	by	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	blows	blow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	whip	whip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
35	till	till	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	xcomp	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	naked	naked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Burchard | such wicked cruel heart |  |  | now |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heart=Patient |
| 2 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | heart |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |
| 3 | **use** | past | Burchard |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **harness** | to-infinitive | Burchard *not said here* | Burchard's peasants |  |  |  | to the plough | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent peasant=Patient to plough=Co-Patient |
| 5 | **force** | infinitive | Burchard *not said here* | peasants *= peasant* |  | Burchard's whip |  | by blows | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |

<!-- .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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