---
title: He understood then that the host meant to ask him by this what kind… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He understood then that the host meant to ask him by this what kind of death he preferred to die, unless he was willing to ransom his life with his money. Who acts: prince, host. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragma
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 109

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He understood then that the host meant to ask him by this what kind of death he preferred to die, unless he was willing to ransom his life with his money.

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**Who acts:** prince, host · **What happens:** understand, mean, ask, prefer, die, be · **To what, where:** prince, kind, life

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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 (prince, host), 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:pg5615:14:109
# text = He understood then that the host meant to ask him by this what kind of death he preferred to die, unless he was willing to ransom his life with his money.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	host	host	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	meant	mean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	det	_	_
13	what	what	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	14	det	_	_
14	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	preferred	prefer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
25	willing	willing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	ransom	ransom	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | past | prince |  |  |  | then |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **mean** | past | the host |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the host *not said here* |  | prince |  |  | by this kind of death | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 4 | **prefer** | past | prince | this kind of death *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **die** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 6 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | prince |  |  |  |  | willing *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **ransom** | to-infinitive | prince *not said here* | prince's life |  |  |  | with prince's money | 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 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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