---
title: The first thing the youth did was to summon his slaves, and bid them… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The first thing the youth did was to summon his slaves, and bid them beat drums all night under the date tree, for he feared to fall asleep. Who acts: youth, first thing, sultan. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nunda, Eater of People, with its dependency tree and the pragma
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Nunda, Eater of People, sentence 11

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The first thing the youth did was to summon his slaves, and bid them beat drums all night under the date tree, for he feared to fall asleep.

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**Who acts:** youth, first thing, sultan · **What happens:** do, be, bid, beat, fear, fall · **To what, where:** first thing, slaves, drums, date tree

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nunda, Eater of People. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (youth, first thing, sultan), 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:pg641:29:11
# text = The first thing the youth did was to summon his slaves, and bid them beat drums all night under the date tree, for he feared to fall asleep.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	summon	summon	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	bid	bid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	beat	beat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	drums	drum	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
18	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	19	det	_	_
19	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl:unmarked	_	_
20	under	under	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	date	date	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
23	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	feared	fear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | the youth | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | past | the first thing |  |  |  |  | summon *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **bid** | infinitive | the first thing *not said here* | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **beat** | infinitive | the first thing *not said here* | drums |  | the date tree | night |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location drum=Theme |
| 5 | **fear** | past | sultan |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **fall** | to-infinitive | sultan *not said here* |  |  |  |  | asleep *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=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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