---
title: So the heads all began to talk to each other, and to ask what they s… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So the heads all began to talk to each other, and to ask what they should do for this girl who was so full of kindliness. Who acts: heads, words, girl. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Bushy Bride, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Bushy Bride, sentence 17

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So the heads all began to talk to each other, and to ask what they should do for this girl who was so full of kindliness.

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**Who acts:** heads, words, girl · **What happens:** begin, talk, ask, do, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Bushy Bride. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (heads, words, girl), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg540:47:17
# text = So the heads all began to talk to each other, and to ask what they should do for this girl who was so full of kindliness.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	all	all	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	7	obl	_	_
10	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	obj	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	det	_	_
21	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	acl:relcl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	kindliness	kindliness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the heads |  |  |  |  | all *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **talk** | to-infinitive | the heads *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to each | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to each=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | the heads *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **do** | should | words *= word* |  |  |  |  | for this girl | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 5 | **is** | past | this girl |  |  |  |  | of kindliness; full *property* | tree rules |

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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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