---
title: The clerk comforted them as best he could; he also was greatly distr… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The clerk comforted them as best he could; he also was greatly distressed that Peter should have behaved in such a way just when he should have gained honour from his pupil. Who acts: clerk, Peter. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, with its dependency 
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The clerk comforted them as best he could; he also was greatly distressed that Peter should have behaved in such a way just when he should have gained honour from his pupil.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** clerk, Peter · **What happens:** comfort, distress, behave, gain · **To what, where:** parents, Peter, way, honour

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (clerk, Peter), 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:pg5615:14:37
# text = The clerk comforted them as best he could; he also was greatly distressed that Peter should have behaved in such a way just when he should have gained honour from his pupil.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	clerk	clerk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	comforted	comfort	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	as	as	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	parataxis	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
11	also	also	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
13	greatly	greatly	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	distressed	distress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	Peter	Peter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux	_	_
19	behaved	behave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	advcl	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	23	det:predet	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
24	just	just	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
25	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	aux	_	_
29	gained	gain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
30	honour	honour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	pupil	pupil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **comfort** | past | the clerk | parents *= parent* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |
| 2 | **distress** | past · passive |  | Peter |  |  |  | greatly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 3 | **behave** | should · perfect · passive |  | Peter |  | such way |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **gain** | should · perfect | Peter | honour |  |  |  | from Peter's pupil | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent honour=Theme from pupil=Source |

<!-- .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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