---
title: Dullhead bethought him of the little grey man, who could, he felt su… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Dullhead bethought him of the little grey man, who could, he felt sure, help him; so he went off to the forest, and on the very spot where he had cut down the tree he saw a man sitting with a most dismal expression of face. Who acts: Dullhead, man. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, 
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Golden Goose, sentence 49

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dullhead bethought him of the little grey man, who could, he felt sure, help him; so he went off to the forest, and on the very spot where he had cut down the tree he saw a man sitting with a most dismal expression of face.

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**Who acts:** Dullhead, man · **What happens:** bethink, feel, help, go off, cut down, see · **To what, where:** man, Dullhead, spot, tree

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Goose. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Dullhead, man), 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:pg540:48:49
# text = Dullhead bethought him of the little grey man, who could, he felt sure, help him; so he went off to the forest, and on the very spot where he had cut down the tree he saw a man sitting with a most dismal expression of face.
1	Dullhead	Dullhead	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	bethought	bethink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
15	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
23	off	off	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
29	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	very	very	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
33	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	36	advmod	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	32	acl:relcl	_	_
37	down	down	ADP	RP	_	36	compound:prt	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	acl:relcl	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
44	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	43	acl	_	_
45	with	with	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
47	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	48	advmod	_	_
48	dismal	dismal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	expression	expression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bethink** | past | Dullhead | man |  |  |  | of the little grey man | tree rules |
| 2 | **feel** | past | Dullhead |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **help** | infinitive | Dullhead *not said here* |  | Dullhead |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **go off** | past | Dullhead |  |  | the spot |  | to the forest | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on spot=Location |
| 5 | **cut down** | past · perfect | Dullhead | the tree |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Product |
| 6 | **see** | past | Dullhead | a man |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus |
| 7 | **sit** | gerund | a man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with a dismal expression of face | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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