---
title: I have had seven sons, yet for five years a bird has devoured my dat… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: I have had seven sons, yet for five years a bird has devoured my dates; and this year it will be the same as ever.’ Who acts: I, year. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nunda, Eater of People, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Nunda, Eater of People, sentence 75

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I have had seven sons, yet for five years a bird has devoured my dates; and this year it will be the same as ever.’

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**Who acts:** I, year · **What happens:** have, devour, be · **To what, where:** seven sons, bird

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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 (I, year), 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:pg641:29:75
# text = I have had seven sons, yet for five years a bird has devoured my dates; and this year it will be the same as ever.’
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
7	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	devoured	devour	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
15	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	dates	date	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
19	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	det	_	_
20	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
22	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	cop	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
26	as	as	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | present · perfect | I | seven sons |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient |
| 2 | **devour** | present · perfect · passive |  | a bird |  |  | year |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | future | this year |  |  |  |  | same *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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