---
title: At this the fox became very sorrowful, and declared that the prince’… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At this the fox became very sorrowful, and declared that the prince’s refusal to grant his request now compelled him to do a deed which he was very unwilling to do--if the prince would not cut off his head, then he must kill the prince himself. Who acts: fox, refusal, request, deed. A sentence of «T
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 15, sentence 67

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At this the fox became very sorrowful, and declared that the prince’s refusal to grant his request now compelled him to do a deed which he was very unwilling to do--if the prince would not cut off his head, then he must kill the prince himself.

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**Who acts:** fox, refusal, request, deed, prince · **What happens:** become, declare, grant, compel, do, be · **To what, where:** fox, deed, head, prince

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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 (fox, refusal, request, deed), 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:pg5615:15:67
# text = At this the fox became very sorrowful, and declared that the prince’s refusal to grant his request now compelled him to do a deed which he was very unwilling to do--if the prince would not cut off his head, then he must kill the prince himself.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	very	very	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	sorrowful	sorrowful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	declared	declare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	’s	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	refusal	refusal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	grant	grant	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
21	compelled	compel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	ccomp	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	deed	deed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
30	very	very	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	unwilling	unwilling	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	acl:relcl	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
38	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
39	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	40	advmod	_	_
40	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	parataxis	_	_
41	off	off	ADP	RP	_	40	compound:prt	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
45	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	48	advmod	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	conj	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
51	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	48	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past | this fox |  |  |  |  | sorrowful *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | this fox *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **grant** | to-infinitive | the prince's refusal |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **compel** | past | fox's request | fox |  |  | now |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Patient clause=Result |
| 5 | **do** | to-infinitive | fox's request *not said here* | a deed |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent deed=Eventuality |
| 6 | **is** | past | a deed |  |  |  |  | unwilling *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **do** | to-infinitive | a deed *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **not** **cut off** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | the prince | fox's head |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality |
| 9 | **kill** | must | prince | the prince |  |  | then | fox *obl:unmarked* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prince=Theme |
| 10 | **refuse** |  | the prince |  |  |  |  |  | nom refusal «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 11 | **request** |  | fox |  |  |  |  |  | nom request «communication transitive»: poss=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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