---
title: No couple were ever so happy; but before their honeymoon was over th… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: No couple were ever so happy; but before their honeymoon was over they were forced to part, for the King had to go on a warlike expedition to a far country, and leave his young wife alone at home. Who acts: couple, King. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Duck, with its 
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The White Duck, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No couple were ever so happy; but before their honeymoon was over they were forced to part, for the King had to go on a warlike expedition to a far country, and leave his young wife alone at home.

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**Who acts:** couple, King · **What happens:** be, force, have, go, leave · **To what, where:** honeymoon, warlike expedition, young wife, home

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Duck. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (couple, King), 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:pg640:29:2
# text = No couple were ever so happy; but before their honeymoon was over they were forced to part, for the King had to go on a warlike expedition to a far country, and leave his young wife alone at home.
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	couple	couple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	6	advmod	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
9	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	honeymoon	honeymoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
13	over	over	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	forced	force	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	advcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	warlike	warlike	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	expedition	expedition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	far	far	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
38	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
40	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
41	at	at	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | no couple |  |  |  | ever | happy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **force** | past · passive |  | their honeymoon |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Recipient |
| 3 | **have** | past | the King |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **go** | to-infinitive | the King *not said here* |  |  | a warlike expedition |  | to a far country | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to country=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **leave** | infinitive |  | King's young wife |  | home |  | alone *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent wife=Theme at home=Location |

<!-- .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 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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