---
title: He wandered hither and thither, asking the girls that he met if they… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He wandered hither and thither, asking the girls that he met if they would undertake the task for him, but at the sight of the flax they laughed in his face and mocked at him. Who acts: He, sons. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Frog, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Frog, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He wandered hither and thither, asking the girls that he met if they would undertake the task for him, but at the sight of the flax they laughed in his face and mocked at him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** He, sons · **What happens:** wander, ask, meet, undertake, laugh, mock · **To what, where:** girls, task, sight, flax

<!-- .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, sons), 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:pg641:36:8
# text = He wandered hither and thither, asking the girls that he met if they would undertake the task for him, but at the sight of the flax they laughed in his face and mocked at him.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wandered	wander	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	hither	hither	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	thither	thither	ADV	RB	_	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
13	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	undertake	undertake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	flax	flax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	mocked	mock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
36	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wander** | past | He |  |  |  |  | hither *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund | He *not said here* |  | the girls |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent girl=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **meet** | past | he | the girls *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent girl=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **undertake** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | sons *= son* | the task |  |  |  | for him *= he* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent task=Eventuality |
| 5 | **laugh** | past | sons *= son* |  |  | the sight of the flax |  | in his face | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in face=Theme |
| 6 | **mock** | past | sons *= son* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at him *= he* | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **sight** |  |  | the flax |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=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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