--- title: Of course they did not keep the news of their discovery to themselve… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Of course they did not keep the news of their discovery to themselves, but told all their companions that they had just been enjoying the best supper they had had since they were born. Who acts: sweetmeats. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, par --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/53/) [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 Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, pa…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/) / 53 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2, sentence 53 Of course they did not keep the news of their discovery to themselves, but told all their companions that they had just been enjoying the best supper they had had since they were born. **Who acts:** sweetmeats · **What happens:** not keep, tell, enjoy, have, bear, discover · **To what, where:** news, sweetmeats, companions, best supper · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sweetmeats), 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:pg641:39:53 # text = Of course they did not keep the news of their discovery to themselves, but told all their companions that they had just been enjoying the best supper they had had since they were born. 1 Of of ADP IN _ 2 case _ _ 2 course course NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 3 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 4 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 5 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 6 advmod _ _ 6 keep keep VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 news news NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ _ 9 of of ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 discovery discovery NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nmod _ _ 12 to to ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 13 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 15 but but CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 16 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 17 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 19 det:predet _ _ 18 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 19 nmod:poss _ _ 19 companions companion NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obj _ _ 20 that that SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 21 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 22 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 23 just just ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ _ 24 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 25 aux _ _ 25 enjoying enjoy VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 16 advcl _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 27 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 28 amod _ _ 28 supper supper NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ _ 29 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 30 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 31 had have VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 28 acl:relcl _ _ 32 since since SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 33 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj:pass _ _ 34 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 aux:pass _ _ 35 born bear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 31 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 36 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **keep** | past · do-support | sweetmeats *= sweetmeat* | the news of sweetmeats's discovery | sweetmeats *= sweetmeat* | | | of course | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent news=Theme | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | | sweetmeats's companions | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent companion=Recipient | | 3 | **enjoy** | past · perfect · progressive | sweetmeats *= sweetmeat* | the best supper | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer supper=Stimulus | | 4 | **have** | past · perfect | sweetmeats *= sweetmeat* | the best supper *not said here* | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **bear** | past · passive | | sweetmeats *= sweetmeat* | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 6 | **discover** | | sweetmeats *= sweetmeat* | | | | | | nom discovery «act 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 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/52/) - next →: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/54/) - ↑ back to [The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/)