--- title: Now when this strange tale was told to the King he became quite sad,… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Now when this strange tale was told to the King he became quite sad, not knowing what he should do to get rid of so undesirable a son-in-law, when suddenly a brilliant idea occurred to him. Who acts: Simpleton, brilliant idea. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Flying Ship(24) --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/35/125/) [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 Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The Flying Ship(24)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/35/) / 125 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Flying Ship(24), sentence 125 Now when this strange tale was told to the King he became quite sad, not knowing what he should do to get rid of so undesirable a son-in-law, when suddenly a brilliant idea occurred to him. **Who acts:** Simpleton, brilliant idea · **What happens:** tell, become, not know, do, get, occur · **To what, where:** strange tale, King, Simpleton · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Flying Ship(24). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Simpleton, brilliant idea), 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:pg640:35:125 # text = Now when this strange tale was told to the King he became quite sad, not knowing what he should do to get rid of so undesirable a son-in-law, when suddenly a brilliant idea occurred to him. 1 Now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 12 advmod _ _ 2 when when SCONJ WRB _ 7 mark _ _ 3 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 5 det _ _ 4 strange strange ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 tale tale NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj:pass _ _ 6 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 aux:pass _ _ 7 told tell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 12 advcl _ _ 8 to to ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 11 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 became become VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 13 quite quite ADV RB _ 14 advmod _ _ 14 sad sad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 16 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 17 advmod _ _ 17 knowing know VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 12 advcl _ _ 18 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 21 obj _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 20 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 21 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 xcomp _ _ 22 to to PART TO _ 23 mark _ _ 23 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 advcl _ _ 24 rid rid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 xcomp _ _ 25 of of SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 26 so so ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 27 undesirable undesirable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 conj _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 30 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 33 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 31 in in ADP IN _ 33 case _ SpaceAfter=No 32 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 33 law law NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 35 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 40 advmod _ _ 36 suddenly suddenly ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 37 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 38 brilliant brilliant ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 idea idea NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 40 occurred occur VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 acl:relcl _ _ 41 to to ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive | | this strange tale | the King | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Topic to king=Recipient | | 2 | **become** | past | Simpleton | | | | now | sad *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | | 3 | **not** **know** | gerund | Simpleton *not said here* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 4 | **do** | should | Simpleton | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality | | 5 | **get** | to-infinitive | Simpleton *not said here* | | | | | rid *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **occur** | past | a brilliant idea | | Simpleton | | | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 124](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/35/124/) - next →: [sentence 126](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/35/126/) - ↑ back to [The Flying Ship(24)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/35/)