---
title: Then the robbers began to mutter to each other apart about what they… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the robbers began to mutter to each other apart about what they should do with him, whether they should murder him, or what else they should do. Who acts: robbers. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 27

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Then the robbers began to mutter to each other apart about what they should do with him, whether they should murder him, or what else they should do.

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**Who acts:** robbers · **What happens:** begin, mutter, do, murder · **To what, where:** each, fellow

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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 (robbers), 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:pg540:9:27
# text = Then the robbers began to mutter to each other apart about what they should do with him, whether they should murder him, or what else they should do.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	robbers	robber	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	mutter	mutter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	6	obl	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	fixed	_	_
10	apart	apart	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
11	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	15	obj	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	murder	murder	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	obl	_	_
27	else	else	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the robbers |  |  |  | then |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **mutter** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the robbers *not said here* |  | each |  |  | apart *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to each=Recipient |
| 3 | **do** | should | robbers *= robber* |  |  |  |  | with fellow | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 4 | **murder** | should | robbers *= robber* | fellow |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 5 | **do** | should | robbers *= robber* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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