---
title: He asked the reason of this, and was told that two princes were to b… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He asked the reason of this, and was told that two princes were to be hanged that day for debt; they had spent all their money in feasting and playing, and were now deeply in debt to the host, and as no one could be found to ransom their lives they were about to be hanged according to the law. Who a
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 15, sentence 50

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He asked the reason of this, and was told that two princes were to be hanged that day for debt; they had spent all their money in feasting and playing, and were now deeply in debt to the host, and as no one could be found to ransom their lives they were about to be hanged according to the law.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** prince, gallows, one · **What happens:** ask, tell, hange, spend, play, be · **To what, where:** reason, two princes, money, feasting, debt, one · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prince, gallows, one), 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:pg5615:15:50
# text = He asked the reason of this, and was told that two princes were to be hanged that day for debt; they had spent all their money in feasting and playing, and were now deeply in debt to the host, and as no one could be found to ransom their lives they were about to be hanged according to the law.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
12	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	princes	prince	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	hanged	hange	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	ccomp	_	_
18	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	det	_	_
19	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl:unmarked	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	debt	debt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	spent	spend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	parataxis	_	_
26	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	28	det:predet	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	feasting	feasting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	playing	play	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
35	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
36	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	37	advmod	_	_
37	deeply	deeply	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
38	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	debt	debt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	host	host	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
45	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
46	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	47	det	_	_
47	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nsubj:pass	_	_
48	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
49	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	aux:pass	_	_
50	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
51	to	to	PART	TO	_	52	mark	_	_
52	ransom	ransom	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	xcomp	_	_
53	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	obj	_	_
55	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
56	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	cop	_	_
57	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	acl:relcl	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	60	mark	_	_
59	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	60	aux:pass	_	_
60	hanged	hange	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	57	xcomp	_	_
61	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	64	case	_	_
62	to	to	ADP	IN	_	61	fixed	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | prince | the reason of this |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent reason=Recipient |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: clause=Topic |
| 3 | **hange** *not said to happen* | past · passive |  | two princes |  |  | day | for debt | tree rules |
| 4 | **spend** | past · perfect | gallows | gallows's money |  | feasting |  |  | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent money=Asset |
| 5 | **play** | gerund | gallows *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | past |  |  |  | debt |  | to the host; deeply *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **find** | could · passive |  | no one |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 8 | **ransom** | to-infinitive | no one *not said here* | gallows's lives |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **is** | past | gallows | gallows's lives *not said here* |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **hange** | to-infinitive · passive | gallows *not said here* |  |  |  |  | accord the law | tree rules |
| 11 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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