---
title: Dullhead asked him what he was taking so much to heart, and the man… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Dullhead asked him what he was taking so much to heart, and the man answered: ‘I don’t know how I am ever to quench this terrible thirst I am suffering from. Who acts: Dullhead, man, I. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Goose, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Golden Goose, sentence 50

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Dullhead asked him what he was taking so much to heart, and the man answered: ‘I don’t know how I am ever to quench this terrible thirst I am suffering from.

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**Who acts:** Dullhead, man, I · **What happens:** ask, take, answer, not know, quench, suffer · **To what, where:** man, terrible thirst · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, I), 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:pg540:48:50
# text = Dullhead asked him what he was taking so much to heart, and the man answered: ‘I don’t know how I am ever to quench this terrible thirst I am suffering from.
1	Dullhead	Dullhead	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asked	ask	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	iobj	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	obj	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	much	much	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
18	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
23	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
25	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
26	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	28	advmod	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	quench	quench	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	ccomp	_	_
29	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	31	det	_	_
30	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	thirst	thirst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	suffering	suffer	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	acl:relcl	_	_
35	from	from	ADP	IN	_	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Dullhead |  | man |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **take** | past · progressive | Dullhead |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme |
| 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the man |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **quench** | present | I | this terrible thirst |  |  | ever |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus thirst=Experiencer |
| 6 | **suffer** | present · progressive | I | this terrible thirst *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer thirst=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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