---
title: The youngest of them, indeed, asked where Esben was, but the others… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The youngest of them, indeed, asked where Esben was, but the others said that that little fool could scarcely keep himself in clothes, and it was not to be expected that he could help them. Who acts: youngest, Esben, others, little fool. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink F
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 29, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The youngest of them, indeed, asked where Esben was, but the others said that that little fool could scarcely keep himself in clothes, and it was not to be expected that he could help them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** youngest, Esben, others, little fool, fool · **What happens:** ask, be, say, keep, not expect, help · **To what, where:** fool, clothes, escape, brothers · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (youngest, Esben, others, little fool), 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:pg5615:29:36
# text = The youngest of them, indeed, asked where Esben was, but the others said that that little fool could scarcely keep himself in clothes, and it was not to be expected that he could help them.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
6	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	11	advmod	_	_
10	Esben	Esben	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
18	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	det	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	fool	fool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	_
24	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	23	obj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux:pass	_	_
31	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
33	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	expected	expect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	parataxis	_	_
35	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	advcl	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the youngest of brothers |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **be** | past | Esben |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the others |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **keep** | could | that little fool | fool |  | clothes |  | scarcely *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent himself=Theme in clothes=Location |
| 5 | **not** **expect** | past · passive |  | escape |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **help** | could | fool | brothers *= brother* |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Beneficiary |

<!-- .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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