---
title: Now the two eldest sons had already chosen their wives; so they took… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now the two eldest sons had already chosen their wives; so they took the flax from their mother, and carried it off with them, to have it spun as she had said. Who acts: sons, flax, mother. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Frog, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Frog, sentence 6

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now the two eldest sons had already chosen their wives; so they took the flax from their mother, and carried it off with them, to have it spun as she had said.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sons, flax, mother · **What happens:** choose, take, carry off, have, spin, say · **To what, where:** two eldest sons, flax · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Frog. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sons, flax, mother), 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:pg641:36:6
# text = Now the two eldest sons had already chosen their wives; so they took the flax from their mother, and carried it off with them, to have it spun as she had said.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
4	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	already	already	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	chosen	choose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	flax	flax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	from	from	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	off	off	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	_
25	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	spun	spin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	xcomp	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | past · perfect · passive |  | the two eldest sons |  |  | now |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary wife=Theme |
| 2 | **take** | past | sons *= son* | the flax |  |  |  | from sons's mother | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent flax=Theme from mother=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **carry off** | past | sons *= son* *not said here* | flax |  |  |  | with sons *= son* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **have** | to-infinitive | sons *= son* *not said here* | flax |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **spin** | participle | flax *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | mother |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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