--- title: The apprentice thought that this seemed the best plan, and that very… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The apprentice thought that this seemed the best plan, and that very afternoon went to a meadow outside the town, dug a deep hole, then knelt and whispered to it three times over, ‘The Emperor Trojan has goat’s ears.’ Who acts: apprentice, this, afternoon, Emperor Trojan. A sentence of «The Violet F --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/6/17/) [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 Goat’s Ears of the Emperor Trojan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/6/) / 17 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Goat’s Ears of the Emperor Trojan, sentence 17 The apprentice thought that this seemed the best plan, and that very afternoon went to a meadow outside the town, dug a deep hole, then knelt and whispered to it three times over, ‘The Emperor Trojan has goat’s ears.’ **Who acts:** apprentice, this, afternoon, Emperor Trojan · **What happens:** think, seem, go, dig, kneel, whisper · **To what, where:** best plan, meadow, deep hole, hole, ears · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Goat’s Ears of the Emperor Trojan. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (apprentice, this, afternoon, Emperor Trojan), 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:pg641:6:17 # text = The apprentice thought that this seemed the best plan, and that very afternoon went to a meadow outside the town, dug a deep hole, then knelt and whispered to it three times over, ‘The Emperor Trojan has goat’s ears.’ 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 apprentice apprentice NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 that that SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 5 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 6 nsubj _ _ 6 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 ccomp _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 8 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 9 amod _ _ 9 plan plan NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 12 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 14 det _ _ 13 very very ADV RB _ 14 advmod _ _ 14 afternoon afternoon NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nsubj _ _ 15 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 16 to to ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 meadow meadow NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ _ 19 outside outside ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 town town NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 23 dug dig VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 24 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 25 deep deep ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 26 hole hole NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 28 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 29 advmod _ _ 29 knelt kneel VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 parataxis _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 whispered whisper VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 conj _ _ 32 to to ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 obl _ _ 34 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 35 nummod _ _ 35 times time NOUN NNS Number=Plur 36 obl:unmarked _ _ 36 over over ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 38 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 42 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 39 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 40 Emperor Emperor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 41 compound _ _ 41 Trojan Trojan PROPN NNP Number=Sing 42 nsubj _ _ 42 has have VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 31 parataxis _ _ 43 goat goat NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 44 ’s 's PART POS _ 43 case _ _ 45 ears ear NOUN NNS Number=Plur 42 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 23 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 23 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the apprentice | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 2 | **seem** | past | this | the best plan | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme plan=Attribute | | 3 | **go** | past | that afternoon | | | a meadow | | outside the town | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to meadow=Initial\_Location | | 4 | **dig** | past | the apprentice *not said here* | a deep hole | | | | | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent hole=Theme | | 5 | **kneel** | past | | | | | then | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | past | | | hole | | | over *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to it=Recipient | | 7 | **have** | present | the Emperor Trojan | goat's ears | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ear=Patient | 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 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/6/16/) - next →: [sentence 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/6/18/) - ↑ back to [The Goat’s Ears of the Emperor Trojan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/6/)