---
title: When this was done, they both sat down to supper, and while they wer… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When this was done, they both sat down to supper, and while they were eating the boy asked the big man: ‘What is your name, father?’ Who acts: meadows. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mogarzea and His Son, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, Mogarzea and His Son, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When this was done, they both sat down to supper, and while they were eating the boy asked the big man: ‘What is your name, father?’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** meadows · **What happens:** do, sit down, eat, ask, be · **To what, where:** this, boy, big man, name

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mogarzea and His Son. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (meadows), 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:pg641:44:15
# text = When this was done, they both sat down to supper, and while they were eating the boy asked the big man: ‘What is your name, father?’
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	both	both	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	supper	supper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
14	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
25	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	29	nsubj	_	_
27	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
31	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past · passive |  | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 2 | **sit down** | past | meadows *= meadow* |  |  |  |  | to supper; both *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **eat** | past · progressive | meadows *= meadow* | the boy |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boy=Patient |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | meadows *= meadow* *not said here* |  | the big man |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent man=Recipient |
| 5 | **is a** | present |  | your name |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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