--- title: The old man did his best to comfort her by repeating all he had said… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The old man did his best to comfort her by repeating all he had said before, but she begged him afresh to tell her truly where his heart was and at last he told her. Who acts: old man, man, bride, heart. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 22, with its depen --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/22/34/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Pink Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/) / [The Pink Fairy Book, part 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/22/) / 34 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 22, sentence 34 The old man did his best to comfort her by repeating all he had said before, but she begged him afresh to tell her truly where his heart was and at last he told her. **Who acts:** old man, man, bride, heart · **What happens:** do, comfort, repeat, say, beg, tell · **To what, where:** best, bride, all, man, last · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 22. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, man, bride, heart), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg5615:22:34 # text = The old man did his best to comfort her by repeating all he had said before, but she begged him afresh to tell her truly where his heart was and at last he told her. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 6 nmod:poss _ _ 6 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 4 obj _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 8 comfort comfort VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 advcl _ _ 9 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 obj _ _ 10 by by SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 11 repeating repeat VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 8 advcl _ _ 12 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 11 obj _ _ 13 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 14 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 15 said say VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 12 acl:relcl _ _ 16 before before ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 18 but but CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 19 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 20 begged beg VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 21 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 obj _ _ 22 afresh afresh ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 xcomp _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 24 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 20 advcl _ _ 25 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 iobj _ _ 26 truly truly ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 27 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 35 advmod _ _ 28 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 29 nmod:poss _ _ 29 heart heart NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nsubj _ _ 30 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 cop _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 32 at at ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 last last NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ _ 34 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 advcl _ _ 36 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 iobj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **do** | past | the old man | man's best | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Eventuality | | 2 | **comfort** | to-infinitive | the old man *not said here* | bride | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus she=Experiencer | | 3 | **repeat** | gerund | the old man *not said here* | all | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent all=Eventuality | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | man | | | | | before *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | bride | | man | | | afresh *property* | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | bride *not said here* | | bride | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient | | 7 | **is** | past | man's heart | | bride | last | | tell, truly *property* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/22/33/) - next →: [sentence 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/22/35/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/22/)