---
title: The girl answered that these shrieks were heard every night, but it… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The girl answered that these shrieks were heard every night, but it was no living being who uttered them; it was a dead man, who life the host had taken because he could not pay for the meals he had had in the inn. Who acts: girl, den, living, dead man. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew 
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 106

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The girl answered that these shrieks were heard every night, but it was no living being who uttered them; it was a dead man, who life the host had taken because he could not pay for the meals he had had in the inn.

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**Who acts:** girl, den, living, dead man, life, prince · **What happens:** answer, hear, be, life, take, not pay · **To what, where:** shrieks, living, dead man, host, meals, inn · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (girl, den, living, dead man), 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:pg5615:14:106
# text = The girl answered that these shrieks were heard every night, but it was no living being who uttered them; it was a dead man, who life the host had taken because he could not pay for the meals he had had in the inn.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	shrieks	shriek	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	ccomp	_	_
9	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	det	_	_
10	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	16	det	_	_
16	living	living	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
17	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	cop	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
19	uttered	utter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
29	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	host	host	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	acl:relcl	_	_
34	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
36	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
37	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
38	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	ccomp	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	meals	meal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
43	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	41	acl:relcl	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	inn	inn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the girl |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | past · passive |  | this shrieks |  |  | night |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is a** | past | den | no living |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | gerund | no living |  |  |  |  | utter *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is a** | past | den | a dead man and life |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **life** |  | a dead man and life |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **take** | past · perfect · passive | life *not said here* | the host |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: subject=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 8 | **not** **pay** | could | prince |  |  |  |  | for the meals | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent for meal=Theme |
| 9 | **have** | past · perfect | prince | the meals *not said here* |  | the inn |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meal=Patient |

<!-- .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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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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