---
title: When the King’s men saw the Dog they began to laugh at it, and make… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the King’s men saw the Dog they began to laugh at it, and make as if they would tease it; but when the Prince saw this he advised them not to do it, or they might have the worst of it. Who acts: men, Prince. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Ring (30), with its depend
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, Prince Ring (30), sentence 53

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the King’s men saw the Dog they began to laugh at it, and make as if they would tease it; but when the Prince saw this he advised them not to do it, or they might have the worst of it.

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**Who acts:** men, Prince · **What happens:** see, begin, laugh, make, tease, advise · **To what, where:** Dog, seat, this, men, worst · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Ring (30). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men, Prince), 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:pg640:42:53
# text = When the King’s men saw the Dog they began to laugh at it, and make as if they would tease it; but when the Prince saw this he advised them not to do it, or they might have the worst of it.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	’s	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	advcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	laugh	laugh	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
18	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	tease	tease	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
26	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	advcl	_	_
30	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	obj	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	advised	advise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
33	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	36	advmod	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	ccomp	_	_
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	worst	bad	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	42	obj	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	42	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | the King's men | the Dog |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer dog=Stimulus |
| 2 | **begin** | past | men *= man* | the Dog *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **laugh** | to-infinitive | men *= man* *not said here* |  |  | seat |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **make** | infinitive | the King's men *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 5 | **tease** | would | men *= man* | seat |  |  |  |  | vn bully-59.5 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 6 | **see** | past | the Prince | this |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus |
| 7 | **advise** *speech: other* | past | Prince | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 8 | **not** **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | seat |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 9 | **have** | might | men *= man* | the worst |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bad=Patient |

<!-- .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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