--- title: ‘Yes,’ they said; they had had a boy who was called Halvor, but they… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: ‘Yes,’ they said; they had had a boy who was called Halvor, but they did not know where he had gone, and they could not even say whether he were dead or alive. Who acts: vessels, Halvor. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Soria Moria Castle, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/6/90/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Red Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/) / [Soria Moria Castle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/6/) / 90 # The Red Fairy Book, Soria Moria Castle, sentence 90 ‘Yes,’ they said; they had had a boy who was called Halvor, but they did not know where he had gone, and they could not even say whether he were dead or alive. **Who acts:** vessels, Halvor · **What happens:** say, have, call, not know, go, not say · **To what, where:** boy · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (vessels, Halvor), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg540:6:90 # text = ‘Yes,’ they said; they had had a boy who was called Halvor, but they did not know where he had gone, and they could not even say whether he were dead or alive. 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Yes yes INTJ UH Polarity=Pos 6 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 4 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ 5 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 7 ; ; PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 9 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 aux _ _ 10 had have VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 6 ccomp _ _ 11 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ _ 13 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 15 nsubj:pass _ _ 14 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 aux:pass _ _ 15 called call VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 12 acl:relcl _ _ 16 Halvor Halvor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 18 but but CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 19 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 20 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 21 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 22 advmod _ _ 22 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 conj _ _ 23 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 26 advmod _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 25 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 gone go VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 22 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 29 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 30 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 31 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 33 advmod _ _ 32 even even ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 33 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 conj _ _ 34 whether whether SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 36 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 cop _ _ 37 dead dead ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 ccomp _ _ 38 or or CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 39 alive alive ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | vessels *= vessel* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **have** | past · perfect | vessels *= vessel* | a boy | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boy=Patient | | 3 | **call** | past · passive | | a boy | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | | 4 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | vessels *= vessel* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 5 | **go** | past · perfect | Halvor | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* | could | vessels *= vessel* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **is** | past | Halvor | | | | | dead *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **be** | | Halvor *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/6/89/) - next →: [sentence 91](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/6/91/) - ↑ back to [Soria Moria Castle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/6/)