---
title: About this time a terrible war broke out, and the king and his army… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: About this time a terrible war broke out, and the king and his army were beaten back and back, till at length they had to retire into the town, and make ready for a siege. Who acts: terrible war, words, length. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Child Who Came From an Egg, wit
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Child Who Came From an Egg, sentence 85

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
About this time a terrible war broke out, and the king and his army were beaten back and back, till at length they had to retire into the town, and make ready for a siege.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** terrible war, words, length · **What happens:** break out, beat back, have, retire, make · **To what, where:** king, length, town

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Child Who Came From an Egg. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (terrible war, words, length), 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:pg641:12:85
# text = About this time a terrible war broke out, and the king and his army were beaten back and back, till at length they had to retire into the town, and make ready for a siege.
1	About	about	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	beaten	beat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	parataxis	_	_
18	back	back	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	back	back	ADV	RB	_	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	till	till	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	retire	retire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	into	into	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
35	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	xcomp	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	siege	siege	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break out** | past | a terrible war |  |  |  | time |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **beat back** | past · passive |  | the king and king's army |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | past | words *= word* | length *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **retire** | to-infinitive | length *not said here* |  |  | the town |  |  | vn resign-10.11-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **make** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | ready *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |

<!-- .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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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