---
title: The father did not know what to think, and told one of his friends,… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The father did not know what to think, and told one of his friends, who said, ‘To-morrow we had better keep watch ourselves.’ Who acts: father, we, better keep. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 36, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 36, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The father did not know what to think, and told one of his friends, who said, ‘To-morrow we had better keep watch ourselves.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** father, we, better keep · **What happens:** not know, think, tell, say, have, watch · **To what, where:** one, better keep, ourselves · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, we, better keep), 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:pg5615:36:28
# text = The father did not know what to think, and told one of his friends, who said, ‘To-morrow we had better keep watch ourselves.’
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
12	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
18	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	To	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	morrow	morrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
24	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	ccomp	_	_
26	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	27	amod	_	_
27	keep	keep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
29	ourselves	ourselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | the father |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past |  | one of father's friends |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent one=Recipient |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **have** | past | we | better keep |  |  |  | to morrow | tree rules |
| 6 | **watch** | infinitive | better keep *not said here* | ourselves |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ourselves=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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