---
title: The retainer, however, showed him the letter in which there was writ… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The retainer, however, showed him the letter in which there was written that the queen and her children were to be burned, and everyone then understood that some great treachery had been enacted. Who acts: retainer, everyone. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, p
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 34, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The retainer, however, showed him the letter in which there was written that the queen and her children were to be burned, and everyone then understood that some great treachery had been enacted.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** retainer, everyone · **What happens:** show, write, burn, understand, enact · **To what, where:** letter, king, queen, great treachery

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (retainer, everyone), 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:pg5615:34:5
# text = The retainer, however, showed him the letter in which there was written that the queen and her children were to be burned, and everyone then understood that some great treachery had been enacted.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	retainer	retainer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	however	however	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	showed	show	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	iobj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	obl	_	_
12	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	14	expl	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl:relcl	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux:pass	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	burned	burn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	29	nsubj	_	_
28	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	29	advmod	_	_
29	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
31	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	33	det	_	_
32	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	treachery	treachery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	enacted	enact	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | past | the retainer | the letter | king |  |  | however *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient letter=Topic |
| 2 | **write** | past · passive |  |  |  | the letter; there |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: in which=Destination |
| 3 | **burn** | past · passive |  | the queen and retainer's children |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **understand** | past | everyone |  |  |  | then |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **enact** | past · perfect · passive |  | some great treachery |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: subject=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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