---
title: Scarcely had he said this before they were standing by his side, but… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Scarcely had he said this before they were standing by his side, but then he was very sorrowful, for the words which they had said to him came to his mind. Who acts: Scarcely, Heavens, words. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Soria Moria Castle, with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Soria Moria Castle, sentence 107

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Scarcely had he said this before they were standing by his side, but then he was very sorrowful, for the words which they had said to him came to his mind.

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**Who acts:** Scarcely, Heavens, words · **What happens:** have, say, stand, be, come, mind · **To what, where:** this, words, Scarcely, mind · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Soria Moria Castle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Scarcely, Heavens, words), 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:pg540:6:107
# text = Scarcely had he said this before they were standing by his side, but then he was very sorrowful, for the words which they had said to him came to his mind.
1	Scarcely	Scarcely	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
5	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obj	_	_
6	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
15	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	very	very	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	sorrowful	sorrowful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
24	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	acl:relcl	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	_
30	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
31	to	to	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	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Scarcely |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Scarcely | this |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent this=Topic |
| 3 | **stand** | past · progressive | Heavens *= heaven* |  |  |  |  | by Scarcely's side | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by side=Location |
| 4 | **is** | past | Scarcely |  |  |  | then | sorrowful *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect · passive |  | the words | Scarcely |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to he=Recipient |
| 6 | **come** | past | the words |  |  | Scarcely's mind |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to mind=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **mind** |  | Scarcely |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=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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