---
title: When he heard these words, the king, whose head was full of the prin… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When he heard these words, the king, whose head was full of the princess, never stopped to inquire if they could be true, and smeared himself over with fat, and sprang into the oven. Who acts: Ciccu, head, words. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 39, with 
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 39, sentence 9

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When he heard these words, the king, whose head was full of the princess, never stopped to inquire if they could be true, and smeared himself over with fat, and sprang into the oven.

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**Who acts:** Ciccu, head, words · **What happens:** hear, be, not stop, inquire, smear over, spring · **To what, where:** words, Ciccu, oven

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 39. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ciccu, head, words), 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:pg5615:39:9
# text = When he heard these words, the king, whose head was full of the princess, never stopped to inquire if they could be true, and smeared himself over with fat, and sprang into the oven.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
5	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	inquire	inquire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	cop	_	_
26	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	smeared	smear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
30	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	29	obj	_	_
31	over	over	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	fat	fat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
37	into	into	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	oven	oven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | Ciccu | this words |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer word=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | past | head |  |  |  |  | of the princess; full *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **stop** | past | Ciccu *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **inquire** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | Ciccu *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | words *= word* |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **smear over** | past | Ciccu *not said here* | Ciccu |  |  |  | with fat | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent himself=Destination with fat=Theme |
| 7 | **spring** | past | Ciccu *not said here* |  |  | the oven |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into oven=Destination |

<!-- .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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