---
title: At first she determined to follow the old custom of keeping the youn… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At first she determined to follow the old custom of keeping the young king ignorant of the duties he would have to perform some day; then, quite suddenly, she resigned the reins of government into his hands; but, unluckily, it was too late to train him properly for the post. Who acts: fairy, old cus
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 29, sentence 108

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At first she determined to follow the old custom of keeping the young king ignorant of the duties he would have to perform some day; then, quite suddenly, she resigned the reins of government into his hands; but, unluckily, it was too late to train him properly for the post.

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**Who acts:** fairy, old custom, prince, duties, it · **What happens:** determine, follow, keep, have, perform, resign · **To what, where:** old custom, young king ignorant, duties, reins, hands, prince

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fairy, old custom, prince, duties), 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:pg5615:29:108
# text = At first she determined to follow the old custom of keeping the young king ignorant of the duties he would have to perform some day; then, quite suddenly, she resigned the reins of government into his hands; but, unluckily, it was too late to train him properly for the post.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	obl	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	determined	determine	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	acl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	ignorant	ignorant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	duties	duty	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl:relcl	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	perform	perform	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	25	det	_	_
25	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
27	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	resigned	resign	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	reins	rein	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	government	government	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
38	into	into	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
42	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
44	unluckily	unluckily	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
47	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	cop	_	_
48	too	too	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
49	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
51	train	train	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	xcomp	_	_
52	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	obj	_	_
53	properly	properly	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
54	for	for	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	post	post	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **determine** | past | fairy |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **follow** | to-infinitive | fairy *not said here* | the old custom |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent custom=Theme |
| 3 | **keep** | gerund | the old custom *not said here* | the young king ignorant of the duties |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ignorant=Theme |
| 4 | **have** | would | prince | the duties *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **perform** | to-infinitive | the duties *not said here* |  |  |  | day |  | vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **resign** | past | fairy | the reins of government |  | prince's hands | then | suddenly *property* | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent rein=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | late, unluckily *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **train** | to-infinitive |  | prince |  |  |  | for the post; properly *property* | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |

<!-- .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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