---
title: But the men whom he asked only shook their heads and told him it was… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the men whom he asked only shook their heads and told him it was not a matter in which he could give any help, for all this sorrow was caused by the Spirit of the Mountain, to whom every year they were bound to furnish a maiden for him to eat. Who acts: man, men, it, Spirit. A sentence of «The V
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars, sentence 187

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the men whom he asked only shook their heads and told him it was not a matter in which he could give any help, for all this sorrow was caused by the Spirit of the Mountain, to whom every year they were bound to furnish a maiden for him to eat.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, men, it, Spirit, year · **What happens:** ask, shake, tell, not be, give, cause · **To what, where:** men, heads, man, matter, help, sorrow · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, men, it, Spirit), 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:pg641:4:187
# text = But the men whom he asked only shook their heads and told him it was not a matter in which he could give any help, for all this sorrow was caused by the Spirit of the Mountain, to whom every year they were bound to furnish a maiden for him to eat.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
4	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	obj	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	shook	shake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	iobj	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	ccomp	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	obl	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	parataxis	_	_
24	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	25	det	_	_
25	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
28	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	30	det:predet	_	_
29	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	30	det	_	_
30	sorrow	sorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	advcl	_	_
33	by	by	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	Spirit	Spirit	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	Mountain	Mountain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	32	obl	_	_
42	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	43	det	_	_
43	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nsubj	_	_
44	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
45	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
46	bound	bound	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	acl:relcl	_	_
47	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
48	furnish	furnish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	xcomp	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	maiden	maiden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
51	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
52	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	54	mark	_	_
54	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | man |  | the men |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent whom=Recipient |
| 2 | **shake** | past | the men | huts's heads |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the men *not said here* |  | man |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 4 | **not** **is a** | past | it | a matter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **give** | could | man | any help |  | a matter |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent help=Theme |
| 6 | **cause** | past · passive | the Spirit of the Mountain | all sorrow |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition subject=Patient |
| 7 | **is** | past | every year |  |  |  |  | bound *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **furnish** | to-infinitive | every year *not said here* | a maiden |  |  |  |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent maiden=Recipient |
| 9 | **eat** | to-infinitive | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: 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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