--- title: But while the King was still instructing the courtier exactly what h… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: But while the King was still instructing the courtier exactly what he was to say, the first man of the ship’s company, the one with the miraculous power of hearing, had overheard the King’s words, and hastily reported them to the poor Simpleton. Who acts: King. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/35/82/) [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/) / 82 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Flying Ship(24), sentence 82 But while the King was still instructing the courtier exactly what he was to say, the first man of the ship’s company, the one with the miraculous power of hearing, had overheard the King’s words, and hastily reported them to the poor Simpleton. **Who acts:** King · **What happens:** instruct, be, overhear, report, word · **To what, where:** courtier, words, courtiers, poor Simpleton 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 (King), 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:pg640:35:82 # text = But while the King was still instructing the courtier exactly what he was to say, the first man of the ship’s company, the one with the miraculous power of hearing, had overheard the King’s words, and hastily reported them to the poor Simpleton. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 2 while while SCONJ IN _ 7 mark _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 5 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 6 still still ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 7 instructing instruct VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 36 advcl _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 courtier courtier NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ _ 10 exactly exactly ADV RB _ 11 advmod _ _ 11 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 15 obj _ _ 12 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 13 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 cop _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 7 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 18 first first ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 19 amod _ _ 19 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 ship ship NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ’s 's PART POS _ 22 case _ _ 24 company company NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 appos _ _ 28 with with ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 miraculous miraculous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 power power NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 hearing hearing NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 35 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 36 overheard overhear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 40 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 39 ’s 's PART POS _ 38 case _ _ 40 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 36 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 43 hastily hastily ADV RB _ 44 advmod _ _ 44 reported report VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 conj _ _ 45 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 obj _ _ 46 to to ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 48 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 amod _ _ 49 Simpleton Simpleton PROPN NNP Number=Sing 44 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 36 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **instruct** *speech: other* | past · progressive | the King | the courtier | | | still | | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent courtier=Recipient | | 2 | **is** | past | King | | | | | say *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **overhear** | past · perfect | | the King's words | | | | | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer word=Stimulus | | 4 | **report** | past | | courtiers *= courtier* | the poor Simpleton | | | hastily *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Topic to simpleton=Recipient | | 5 | **word** | | the King | | | | | | nom word «communication 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 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 81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/35/81/) - next →: [sentence 83](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/35/83/) - ↑ back to [The Flying Ship(24)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/35/)