---
title: One day he went to the king and told him that the dove was by no mea… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: One day he went to the king and told him that the dove was by no means the best thing that the brothers could get for him; for one day he had heard them talking quietly among themselves, and they had said that they could procure a boar whose bristles were of gold and silver time about. Who acts: Red
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 28, sentence 71

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One day he went to the king and told him that the dove was by no means the best thing that the brothers could get for him; for one day he had heard them talking quietly among themselves, and they had said that they could procure a boar whose bristles were of gold and silver time about.

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**Who acts:** Red, no, brothers, dove · **What happens:** go, tell, be, get, hear, talk · **To what, where:** Red, dove, best thing, brothers, boar · **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 28. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Red, no, brothers, dove), 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:pg5615:28:71
# text = One day he went to the king and told him that the dove was by no means the best thing that the brothers could get for him; for one day he had heard them talking quietly among themselves, and they had said that they could procure a boar whose bristles were of gold and silver time about.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	iobj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	dove	dove	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	17	nsubj	_	_
17	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	20	amod	_	_
20	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
21	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	obj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
24	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	acl:relcl	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nummod	_	_
31	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	parataxis	_	_
35	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	34	xcomp	_	_
37	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
38	among	among	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
42	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
43	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	34	conj	_	_
45	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
46	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	procure	procure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	ccomp	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	boar	boar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
51	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	bristles	bristle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obj	_	_
53	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	cop	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	ccomp	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
57	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	compound	_	_
58	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	conj	_	_
59	about	about	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | Red |  |  |  | day | to the king | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to king=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Red *not said here* |  | Red |  |  | about *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | past | no | the dove *not said here* |  |  |  | mean *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **get** | could | the brothers | the best thing |  |  |  | for Red | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent that=Theme for he=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **hear** | past · perfect | Red | brothers *= brother* |  |  | day |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **talk** | gerund | brothers *= brother* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | among brothers *= brother*; quietly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | brothers *= brother* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **procure** | could | brothers *= brother* | a boar |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boar=Theme |
| 9 | **is** | past | the dove |  |  |  |  | of gold and silver time | 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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