---
title: The king was unwilling to risk his third son on such an errand, but… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The king was unwilling to risk his third son on such an errand, but he begged so long that his father had at last to consent. Who acts: king, father. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 97

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The king was unwilling to risk his third son on such an errand, but he begged so long that his father had at last to consent.

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**Who acts:** king, father · **What happens:** unwill, risk, beg, have, consent · **To what, where:** third son, errand

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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 (king, father), 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:pg5615:14:97
# text = The king was unwilling to risk his third son on such an errand, but he begged so long that his father had at last to consent.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	unwilling	unwill	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	risk	risk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	amod	_	_
9	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	13	det:predet	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	errand	errand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
24	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	xcomp	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	consent	consent	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **unwill** | past · progressive | the king |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **risk** | to-infinitive | the king *not said here* | king's third son |  | such errand |  |  | vn risk-94-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Pivot |
| 3 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | king |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **have** | past | king's father |  |  |  |  | last *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **consent** | to-infinitive | king's father *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn acquiesce-95.1-1-1 «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 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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