---
title: But though he quite understood that it was almost hopeless to fight… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But though he quite understood that it was almost hopeless to fight against such a powerful monster, yet the thought of the hungry children at home clung to him like a burr, and would not be shaken off, and at last he said to the shepherd, ‘What will you give me if I rid you of the dragon?’ Who acts
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, Stan Bolovan, sentence 51

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But though he quite understood that it was almost hopeless to fight against such a powerful monster, yet the thought of the hungry children at home clung to him like a burr, and would not be shaken off, and at last he said to the shepherd, ‘What will you give me if I rid you of the dragon?’

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**Who acts:** Stan, it, you, I · **What happens:** understand, be, fight, cling, not shake off, say · **To what, where:** thought, hungry children, Stan, last, me, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Stan Bolovan. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Stan, it, you, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg641:13:51
# text = But though he quite understood that it was almost hopeless to fight against such a powerful monster, yet the thought of the hungry children at home clung to him like a burr, and would not be shaken off, and at last he said to the shepherd, ‘What will you give me if I rid you of the dragon?’
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	hopeless	hopeless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	against	against	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	17	det:predet	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	powerful	powerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	monster	monster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
28	clung	cling	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	acl	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	_
31	like	like	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	burr	burr	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
36	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
37	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	39	advmod	_	_
38	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	shaken	shake	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
40	off	off	ADP	RP	_	39	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
43	at	at	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
47	to	to	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
51	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	55	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	55	obj	_	_
53	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
54	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
55	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	ccomp	_	_
56	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	55	iobj	_	_
57	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
58	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj	_	_
59	rid	rid	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	advcl	_	_
60	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	59	obj	_	_
61	of	of	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	55	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	55	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | past | Stan | the thought of the hungry children at home |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | almost, hopeless *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **fight** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | against such powerful monster | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **cling** | participle |  | the hungry children at home *not said here* | Stan |  |  | like a burr | vn cling-22.5 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to he=Co-Theme |
| 5 | **not** **shake off** | would · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle» |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Stan |  |  | last |  | to the shepherd | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient whether/if S»: agent=Pivot to shepherd=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 7 | **give** | future | you |  | me |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient what=Theme |
| 8 | **rid** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | I | you |  |  |  | of the dragon | vn deprive-10.6.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent you=Source of dragon=Theme |
| 9 | **think** |  |  | the hungry children at home |  |  |  |  | nom thought «cognition transitive»: of=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 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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