---
title: The robbers had heard of this, so they told the youth that if he wer… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The robbers had heard of this, so they told the youth that if he were able to steal the ox from him on the way, without his knowing, and without doing him any harm, he should have leave to be their servant-man. Who acts: robbers, man. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thi
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 34

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The robbers had heard of this, so they told the youth that if he were able to steal the ox from him on the way, without his knowing, and without doing him any harm, he should have leave to be their servant-man.

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**Who acts:** robbers, man · **What happens:** hear, tell, be, steal, know, do · **To what, where:** robbers, youth, ox, way, man, servant man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, man), 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:pg540:9:34
# text = The robbers had heard of this, so they told the youth that if he were able to steal the ox from him on the way, without his knowing, and without doing him any harm, he should have leave to be their servant-man.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	robbers	robber	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	ccomp	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	steal	steal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Gender=Masc|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
33	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
34	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	41	advcl	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	37	det	_	_
37	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
40	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
42	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	xcomp	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
44	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	cop	_	_
45	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
46	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past · perfect · passive |  | the robbers |  |  |  | of this | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | robbers *= robber* | the youth |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent youth=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | past | man |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **steal** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | the ox |  | the way |  | from man | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent ox=Theme from he=Source |
| 5 | **know** | gerund | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **do** | gerund | man *not said here* | man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **have** | should | man |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **leave** | infinitive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **is a** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | oxen's servant man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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