---
title: The two elder brothers were much bigger and stronger than the younge… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The two elder brothers were much bigger and stronger than the youngest, but Jesper was far the cleverest of the three, though neither Peter nor Paul would admit this. Who acts: two elder brothers, Jesper, Peter. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Jesper Who Herded the Hares, with 
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, Jesper Who Herded the Hares, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The two elder brothers were much bigger and stronger than the youngest, but Jesper was far the cleverest of the three, though neither Peter nor Paul would admit this.

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**Who acts:** two elder brothers, Jesper, Peter · **What happens:** be, admit · **To what, where:** this

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Jesper Who Herded the Hares. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two elder brothers, Jesper, Peter), 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:pg641:24:15
# text = The two elder brothers were much bigger and stronger than the youngest, but Jesper was far the cleverest of the three, though neither Peter nor Paul would admit this.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
3	elder	elder	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	much	much	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	stronger	strong	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	conj	_	_
10	than	than	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
15	Jesper	Jesper	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
17	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	19	advmod	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	cleverest	clever	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	12	appos	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
24	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
25	neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	26	det	_	_
26	Peter	Peter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
27	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	28	cc	_	_
28	Paul	Paul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	_
29	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	admit	admit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
31	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the two elder brothers |  |  |  |  | big *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | the two elder brothers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | Jesper |  |  |  |  | of the three; clever, far *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **admit** *speech: other* | would | neither Peter nor Paul | this |  |  |  |  | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Theme |

<!-- .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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