---
title: He waited patiently for some days till the dates were nearly ripe, a… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He waited patiently for some days till the dates were nearly ripe, and then he called his six sons, and said: ‘One of you must watch the date tree till the dates are ripe, for if it is not watched the slaves will steal them, and I shall not have any for another year.’ Who acts: sultan, dates, One, s
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Nunda, Eater of People, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He waited patiently for some days till the dates were nearly ripe, and then he called his six sons, and said: ‘One of you must watch the date tree till the dates are ripe, for if it is not watched the slaves will steal them, and I shall not have any for another year.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sultan, dates, One, slaves, I · **What happens:** wait, be, call, say, watch, not watch · **To what, where:** six sons, date tree, vizir, trees, any · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (sultan, dates, One, slaves), 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:pg641:29:9
# text = He waited patiently for some days till the dates were nearly ripe, and then he called his six sons, and said: ‘One of you must watch the date tree till the dates are ripe, for if it is not watched the slaves will steal them, and I shall not have any for another year.’
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	waited	wait	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	patiently	patiently	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	dates	date	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	ripe	ripe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
19	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nummod	_	_
20	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
25	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	30	nsubj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nmod	_	_
29	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	ccomp	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	date	date	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
34	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	dates	date	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj	_	_
37	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
38	ripe	ripe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
40	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
41	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj:pass	_	_
43	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	aux:pass	_	_
44	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	45	advmod	_	_
45	watched	watch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	49	advcl	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	slaves	slave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nsubj	_	_
48	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	steal	steal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	conj	_	_
50	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
53	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
54	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
55	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	56	advmod	_	_
56	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
57	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	56	obj	_	_
58	for	for	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	60	det	_	_
60	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	56	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	56	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | past | sultan |  |  |  | day | patiently *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | the dates |  |  |  |  | nearly, ripe *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **call** | past | sultan |  | sultan's six sons |  | then |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent son=Recipient |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | sultan *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **watch** | must | One of you | the date tree |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Theme |
| 6 | **is** | present | the dates |  |  |  |  | ripe *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **not** **watch** *a condition, not said to happen* | present · passive |  | vizir |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 8 | **steal** | future | the slaves | trees *= tree* |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location they=Theme |
| 9 | **not** **have** | shall | I | any |  |  | for another year |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent any=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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