---
title: The troll, therefore, sentenced the king, either to answer three que… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The troll, therefore, sentenced the king, either to answer three questions that he would put to him, or have his head taken off, as was agreed on in the old bond. Who acts: troll, head. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 27, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 27, sentence 79

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The troll, therefore, sentenced the king, either to answer three questions that he would put to him, or have his head taken off, as was agreed on in the old bond.

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**Who acts:** troll, head · **What happens:** sentence, answer, put, have, take off, agree · **To what, where:** king, three questions, fool, head

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 27. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (troll, head), 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:pg5615:27:79
# text = The troll, therefore, sentenced the king, either to answer three questions that he would put to him, or have his head taken off, as was agreed on in the old bond.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	troll	troll	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	sentenced	sentence	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	either	either	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc:preconj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	answer	answer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
13	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	xcomp	_	_
27	off	off	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	agreed	agree	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	conj	_	_
32	on	on	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	bond	bond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sentence** | past | the troll | the king |  |  |  | therefore *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **answer** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the troll *not said here* | three questions |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent question=Eventuality |
| 3 | **put** | would | troll |  | fool |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **have** | infinitive |  | troll's head |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **take off** | participle | troll's head *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | on the old bond | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V PP.theme S»: on bond=Topic |

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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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