---
title: But the youngest son was puzzled what to do with his skein, as he kn… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the youngest son was puzzled what to do with his skein, as he knew no girl (never having spoken to any) to whom he could give it to be spun. Who acts: he, girl. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Frog, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Frog, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the youngest son was puzzled what to do with his skein, as he knew no girl (never having spoken to any) to whom he could give it to be spun.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** he, girl · **What happens:** puzzle, do, know, not have, speak, give · **To what, where:** youngest son, girl, 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 (he, girl), 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:pg641:36:7
# text = But the youngest son was puzzled what to do with his skein, as he knew no girl (never having spoken to any) to whom he could give it to be spun.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	amod	_	_
4	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	puzzled	puzzle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	skein	skein	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
17	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	18	det	_	_
18	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	having	have	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	18	acl	_	_
22	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	xcomp	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	21	punct	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	30	obl	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
33	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	spun	spin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **puzzle** | past · passive |  | the youngest son |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | with his skein | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 3 | **know** | past | he | no girl |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **have** | gerund | no girl *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **speak** *speech: other* | participle | no girl *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to any | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to any=Co-Agent |
| 6 | **give** | could | he | flax |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Theme to whom=Recipient |
| 7 | **spin** | to-infinitive · passive | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V» |

<!-- .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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