--- title: There was once a fine gentleman whose entire worldly possessions con… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: There was once a fine gentleman whose entire worldly possessions consisted of a boot-jack and a hair-brush; but he had the most beautiful shirt-collar in the world, and it is about this that we are going to hear a story. Who acts: fine gentleman, gentleman, collar, this. A sentence of «The Pink Fair --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/5/204/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Pink Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/) / [The Pink Fairy Book, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/5/) / 204 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 5, sentence 204 There was once a fine gentleman whose entire worldly possessions consisted of a boot-jack and a hair-brush; but he had the most beautiful shirt-collar in the world, and it is about this that we are going to hear a story. **Who acts:** fine gentleman, gentleman, collar, this · **What happens:** be, consist, have, go, hear, possess · **To what, where:** entire worldly possessions, beautiful shirt collar, world, story This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fine gentleman, gentleman, collar, this), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg5615:5:204 # text = There was once a fine gentleman whose entire worldly possessions consisted of a boot-jack and a hair-brush; but he had the most beautiful shirt-collar in the world, and it is about this that we are going to hear a story. 1 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 2 expl _ _ 2 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 2 advmod _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 fine fine ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 gentleman gentleman NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 nsubj _ _ 7 whose whose PRON WP$ Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel 10 nmod:poss _ _ 8 entire entire ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 9 worldly worldly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 possessions possession NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nmod _ _ 11 consisted consist VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 10 acl _ _ 12 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 14 boot boot NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 15 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 14 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 jack jack NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl:agent _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 19 hair hair NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 20 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 21 brush brush NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ; ; PUNCT : _ 25 punct _ _ 23 but but CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 27 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 28 advmod _ _ 28 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 29 shirt shirt NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 30 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 29 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 31 collar collar NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ _ 32 in in ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 world world NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 37 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 38 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 40 cop _ _ 39 about about ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 44 nsubj _ _ 41 that that SCONJ IN _ 44 mark _ _ 42 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 44 nsubj _ _ 43 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 44 aux _ _ 44 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 25 conj _ _ 45 to to PART TO _ 46 mark _ _ 46 hear hear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 44 xcomp _ _ 47 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **be** | past | a fine gentleman a fine gentleman a fine gentleman's entire worldly possessions's entire worldly possessions | | | there | | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **consist** | participle | | a fine gentleman a fine gentleman entire worldly possessions's entire worldly possessions's entire worldly possessions *not said here* | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **have** | past | gentleman | the beautiful shirt collar | | the world | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent collar=Patient | | 4 | **is** | present | collar | | | | | about this | tree rules | | 5 | **go** | present · progressive | this | | | | | | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **hear** | to-infinitive | this *not said here* | a story | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus | | 7 | **possess** | | a fine gentleman a fine gentleman entire worldly possessions's entire worldly possessions | | | | | | nom possession «act transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 203](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/5/203/) - next →: [The Pink Fairy Book, part 6, 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/6/1/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/5/)