---
title: Why, when he was only twelve he was quite sharp and quick, and had l… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Why, when he was only twelve he was quite sharp and quick, and had learnt many little things, and a good-looking boy too, and pleasant, so that customers were taken by him. Who acts: son. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2, with its dependenc
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why, when he was only twelve he was quite sharp and quick, and had learnt many little things, and a good-looking boy too, and pleasant, so that customers were taken by him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** son · **What happens:** be, learn, look, take · **To what, where:** twelve, many little things, customers

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (son), 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:pg641:27:12
# text = Why, when he was only twelve he was quite sharp and quick, and had learnt many little things, and a good-looking boy too, and pleasant, so that customers were taken by him.
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	7	mark	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	obl	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	learnt	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	parataxis	_	_
18	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
24	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	looking	look	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	27	amod	_	_
27	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
28	too	too	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	pleasant	pleasant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	37	mark	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	fixed	_	_
35	customers	customer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
36	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	conj	_	_
38	by	by	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | son | twelve |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | son |  |  |  |  | sharp *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | son *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **learn** | past · perfect |  | many little things |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Topic |
| 5 | **look** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 6 | **be** |  | son *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **take** | past · passive | son | customers |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=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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