---
title: The stranger talked for a little to the other men in a language Hans… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The stranger talked for a little to the other men in a language Hans did not understand, and after listening for a short time he once more fell asleep. Who acts: stranger, Hans. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Underground Workers, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Underground Workers, sentence 20

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The stranger talked for a little to the other men in a language Hans did not understand, and after listening for a short time he once more fell asleep.

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**Who acts:** stranger, Hans · **What happens:** talk, not understand, listen, fall · **To what, where:** language, short time

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Underground Workers. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stranger, Hans), 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:pg641:25:20
# text = The stranger talked for a little to the other men in a language Hans did not understand, and after listening for a short time he once more fell asleep.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obl	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
14	Hans	Hans	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
15	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
21	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	29	advmod	_	_
28	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	29	advmod	_	_
29	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	acl:relcl	_	_
30	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | past | the stranger |  |  | a language |  | for a little; to the other men | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to man=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **not** **understand** | past · do-support | Hans | a language *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer language=Stimulus |
| 3 | **listen** | gerund |  |  |  |  | time |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **fall** | past | Hans | a short time *not said here* |  |  |  | asleep, once *property* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient time=Result |

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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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