---
title: When the old king got time to think over it, he was quite convinced… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the old king got time to think over it, he was quite convinced that his kingdom would be safe in Jesper’s hands if he looked after the people as well as he herded the hares. Who acts: old king, king, kingdom. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Jesper Who Herded the Hares, wit
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, Jesper Who Herded the Hares, sentence 161

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the old king got time to think over it, he was quite convinced that his kingdom would be safe in Jesper’s hands if he looked after the people as well as he herded the hares.

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**Who acts:** old king, king, kingdom · **What happens:** get, think, be, look, herd · **To what, where:** love, hands, hares

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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 (old king, king, kingdom), 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:pg641:24:161
# text = When the old king got time to think over it, he was quite convinced that his kingdom would be safe in Jesper’s hands if he looked after the people as well as he herded the hares.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
9	over	over	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	convinced	convinced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	cop	_	_
21	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	advcl	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	Jesper	Jesper	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	’s	's	PART	POS	_	23	case	_	_
25	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
26	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
29	after	after	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
32	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	36	cc	_	_
33	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	32	fixed	_	_
34	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	herded	herd	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	hares	hare	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | the old king |  |  |  | time |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the old king *not said here* |  |  | love |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | king |  |  |  |  | convinced *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | would | king's kingdom |  |  | Jesper's hands |  | safe *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **look** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | king |  |  |  | after the people |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 6 | **herd** | past | king | the hares |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent hare=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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