---
title: His two elder brothers came and knelt before him and confessed what… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: His two elder brothers came and knelt before him and confessed what they had done, and said that he alone should inherit the kingdom, and they would always be his faithful subjects. Who acts: two elder brothers, brothers, prince. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Boo
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 26, sentence 75

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His two elder brothers came and knelt before him and confessed what they had done, and said that he alone should inherit the kingdom, and they would always be his faithful subjects.

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**Who acts:** two elder brothers, brothers, prince · **What happens:** come, kneel, confess, do, say, inherit · **To what, where:** kingdom, faithful subjects · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two elder brothers, brothers, prince), 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:pg5615:26:75
# text = His two elder brothers came and knelt before him and confessed what they had done, and said that he alone should inherit the kingdom, and they would always be his faithful subjects.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
3	elder	elder	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	knelt	kneel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
8	before	before	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	confessed	confess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
12	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	15	obj	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
22	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	inherit	inherit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	ccomp	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
29	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
30	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	34	advmod	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	cop	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
33	faithful	faithful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	subjects	subject	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | prince's two elder brothers |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **kneel** | past | prince's two elder brothers *not said here* |  |  |  | before prince |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before he=Location |
| 3 | **confess** | past | prince's two elder brothers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **do** | past · perfect | brothers *= brother* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **inherit** | should | prince | the kingdom |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kingdom=Theme |
| 7 | **is a** | would | brothers *= brother* | prince's faithful subjects |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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