--- title: Now the boy had been rather uneasy when he recollected his father’s… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Now the boy had been rather uneasy when he recollected his father’s words, but he thought to himself, ‘What is done cannot be undone,’ and answered, ‘Very well, so let it be.’ Who acts: boy, corn, father. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Finest Liar in the World, with its de --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/3/13/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Violet Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/) / [The Finest Liar in the World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/3/) / 13 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Finest Liar in the World, sentence 13 Now the boy had been rather uneasy when he recollected his father’s words, but he thought to himself, ‘What is done cannot be undone,’ and answered, ‘Very well, so let it be.’ **Who acts:** boy, corn, father · **What happens:** be, recollect, think, do, not undo, answer · **To what, where:** words, boy, corn · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Finest Liar in the World. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, corn, father), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg641:3:13 # text = Now the boy had been rather uneasy when he recollected his father’s words, but he thought to himself, ‘What is done cannot be undone,’ and answered, ‘Very well, so let it be.’ 1 Now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 7 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 4 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 5 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 7 cop _ _ 6 rather rather ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 7 uneasy uneasy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 8 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 10 advmod _ _ 9 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 recollected recollect VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 advcl _ _ 11 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 12 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ’s 's PART POS _ 12 case _ _ 14 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 16 but but CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 17 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 18 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 parataxis _ _ 19 to to ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 22 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 25 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 23 What what PRON WP PronType=Int 25 nsubj:pass _ _ 24 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux:pass _ _ 25 done do VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 29 advcl _ _ 26 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 27 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 29 advmod _ _ 28 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 29 aux:pass _ _ 29 undone undo VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 18 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 31 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 29 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 answered answer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 35 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 37 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 36 Very very ADV RB _ 37 advmod _ _ 37 well well ADV RB Degree=Pos 33 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 39 so so ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 40 let let VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 7 parataxis _ _ 41 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obj _ _ 42 be be VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 40 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 44 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past · perfect | the boy | | | | now | uneasy *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **recollect** | past | boy | boy's father's words | | | | | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent word=Theme | | 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | boy | | boy | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 4 | **do** | present · passive | | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality | | 5 | **not** **undo** | can · passive | | | | | | | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP» | | 6 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | | | | | | well *property* | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **let** | infinitive | | corn | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **be** | infinitive | corn *not said here* | | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 9 | **word** | | boy's father | | | | | | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/3/12/) - next →: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/3/14/) - ↑ back to [The Finest Liar in the World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/3/)