---
title: But the more Ferko wept and told his brothers that he was dying of h… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the more Ferko wept and told his brothers that he was dying of hunger, the more they laughed and scolded him for his greed. Who acts: more Ferko, Ferko, brothers. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Beasts(11), part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Grateful Beasts(11), part 1, sentence 20

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But the more Ferko wept and told his brothers that he was dying of hunger, the more they laughed and scolded him for his greed.

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**Who acts:** more Ferko, Ferko, brothers · **What happens:** weep, tell, die, laugh, scold · **To what, where:** brothers, Ferko · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Beasts(11), part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (more Ferko, Ferko, brothers), 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:pg640:14:20
# text = But the more Ferko wept and told his brothers that he was dying of hunger, the more they laughed and scolded him for his greed.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	amod	_	_
4	Ferko	Ferko	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	wept	weep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	iobj	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	dying	die	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	ccomp	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	20	advmod	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	scolded	scold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	for	for	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	greed	greed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **weep** | past | the more Ferko |  |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the more Ferko *not said here* |  | Ferko's brothers |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent brother=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **die** | past · progressive | Ferko |  |  |  |  | of hunger | vn die-42.4-1 «NP V PP.cause»: agent=Patient of hunger=Causer |
| 4 | **laugh** | past | brothers *= brother* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **scold** | past | brothers *= brother* *not said here* | Ferko |  |  |  | for Ferko's greed | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent he=Theme for greed=Attribute |

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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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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