---
title: When the King came to be bowed down with the weight of years he spok… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the King came to be bowed down with the weight of years he spoke to his son, and said that now it was time for him to look out for a fitting match for himself, for he did not know how long he might last now, and he would like to see him married before he died. Who acts: King, Sigurd, weight, ti
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch in the Stone Boat(31), sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the King came to be bowed down with the weight of years he spoke to his son, and said that now it was time for him to look out for a fitting match for himself, for he did not know how long he might last now, and he would like to see him married before he died.

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**Who acts:** King, Sigurd, weight, time · **What happens:** come, bow down, speak, say, be, look out · **To what, where:** years, time, Sigurd · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch in the Stone Boat(31). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, Sigurd, weight, time), 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:pg640:47:3
# text = When the King came to be bowed down with the weight of years he spoke to his son, and said that now it was time for him to look out for a fitting match for himself, for he did not know how long he might last now, and he would like to see him married before he died.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	bowed	bow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
8	down	down	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
23	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	26	advmod	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
26	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
27	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nmod	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	ccomp	_	_
31	out	out	ADP	RP	_	30	compound:prt	_	_
32	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	fitting	fitting	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	match	match	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
39	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
41	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
42	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
43	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	conj	_	_
44	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	45	advmod	_	_
45	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	48	advmod	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	last	last	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	ccomp	_	_
49	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	48	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	ccomp	_	_
55	to	to	PART	TO	_	56	mark	_	_
56	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	54	xcomp	_	_
57	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	obj	_	_
58	married	marry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	56	xcomp	_	_
59	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
60	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	nsubj	_	_
61	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the King |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **bow down** | to-infinitive · passive | the King *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the weight of years | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V» |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | Sigurd | years *not said here* |  |  |  | to Sigurd's son | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **is a** | past | weight | time |  |  | now | for Sigurd | tree rules |
| 6 | **look out** | to-infinitive | time |  |  |  |  | for a fitting match; for Sigurd | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent for match=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | Sigurd |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 8 | **last** | might | Sigurd |  |  |  | now | long *property* | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **like** | would | Sigurd |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 10 | **see** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Sigurd *not said here* | Sigurd |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **marry** | participle | Sigurd *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 12 | **die** | past | Sigurd |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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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