---
title: But the man was still unwilling, so the Master Thief followed him, t… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the man was still unwilling, so the Master Thief followed him, threatening him with a great birch stick, till he went weeping and wailing through the door to the Governor of the province. Who acts: man, Master Thief. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief, with its d
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 103

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the man was still unwilling, so the Master Thief followed him, threatening him with a great birch stick, till he went weeping and wailing through the door to the Governor of the province.

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**Who acts:** man, Master Thief · **What happens:** be, follow, threaten, go, weep, wail · **To what, where:** man, Governor, door

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, Master Thief), 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:pg540:9:103
# text = But the man was still unwilling, so the Master Thief followed him, threatening him with a great birch stick, till he went weeping and wailing through the door to the Governor of the province.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	still	still	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	unwilling	unwilling	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	Master	Master	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	Thief	Thief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	followed	follow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	threatening	threaten	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
19	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
20	birch	birch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
26	weeping	weep	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	xcomp	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	wailing	wail	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	26	conj	_	_
29	through	through	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	Governor	Governor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	province	province	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the man |  |  |  | still | unwilling *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **follow** | past | the Master Thief | man |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 3 | **threaten** | gerund | the Master Thief *not said here* | man |  |  |  | with a great birch stick | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |
| 4 | **go** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **weep** | gerund | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **wail** | gerund | man *not said here* |  | the Governor of the province | the door |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to governor=Recipient |

<!-- .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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