---
title: Then the abbot told him of the wonderful way in which Vassili had co… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the abbot told him of the wonderful way in which Vassili had come to them, and Mark saw clearly that this must be his godson whom he had twice tried to kill. Who acts: abbot, Vassili, Mark, this. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars, with it
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars, sentence 48

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the abbot told him of the wonderful way in which Vassili had come to them, and Mark saw clearly that this must be his godson whom he had twice tried to kill.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** abbot, Vassili, Mark, this, boy · **What happens:** tell, come, see, be, try, kill · **To what, where:** boy, voices, wonderful way, godson · **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 (abbot, Vassili, Mark, this), 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:pg641:4:48
# text = Then the abbot told him of the wonderful way in which Vassili had come to them, and Mark saw clearly that this must be his godson whom he had twice tried to kill.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	abbot	abbot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	obl	_	_
12	Vassili	Vassili	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	acl:relcl	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	Mark	Mark	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
21	clearly	clearly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
23	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	27	nsubj	_	_
24	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	cop	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	godson	godson	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	xcomp	_	_
28	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	32	obl	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	32	advmod	_	_
32	tried	try	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	parataxis	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the abbot |  | boy |  | then | of the wonderful way | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 2 | **come** | past · perfect | Vassili |  | voices *= voice* | the wonderful way |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to they=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **see** | past | Mark |  |  |  |  | clearly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is a** | must | this | boy's godson |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **try** | past · perfect | boy | boy's godson |  |  |  | twice *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **kill** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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