---
title: He listened in silence for the most part, but now and then he would… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He listened in silence for the most part, but now and then he would say, ‘Yes, yes, you must have been badly treated,’ just for politeness’ sake; what more could he do? Who acts: Petru. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 3, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 3, sentence 58

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He listened in silence for the most part, but now and then he would say, ‘Yes, yes, you must have been badly treated,’ just for politeness’ sake; what more could he do?

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**Who acts:** Petru · **What happens:** listen, say, treat, do · **To what, where:** silence, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Petru), 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:pg641:21:58
# text = He listened in silence for the most part, but now and then he would say, ‘Yes, yes, you must have been badly treated,’ just for politeness’ sake; what more could he do?
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	listened	listen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	amod	_	_
8	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
11	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	advmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	advmod	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
18	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	28	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
21	yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	28	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
25	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	aux	_	_
26	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	28	aux:pass	_	_
27	badly	badly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	28	advmod	_	_
28	treated	treat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	28	punct	_	_
31	just	just	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
32	for	for	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	politeness	politeness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	33	punct	_	_
35	sake	sake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	41	punct	_	_
37	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	41	obj	_	_
38	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	37	amod	_	_
39	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **listen** | past | Petru |  |  | silence |  | for the most part | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent in silence=Location for part=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | would | Petru |  |  |  | now; then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **treat** | must · perfect · passive |  | you |  |  |  | for politeness and sake; badly *property* | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 4 | **do** | could | Petru |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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