---
title: The old greybeard uttered no word, and when his companion tried to a… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The old greybeard uttered no word, and when his companion tried to ask him the meaning of it all he felt that his voice died in his throat. Who acts: old greybeard, companion, voice. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Prince, part 1, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Grateful Prince, part 1, sentence 68

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old greybeard uttered no word, and when his companion tried to ask him the meaning of it all he felt that his voice died in his throat.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** old greybeard, companion, voice · **What happens:** utter, try, ask, feel, die · **To what, where:** word, meaning, companion

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Prince, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old greybeard, companion, voice), 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:pg641:9:68
# text = The old greybeard uttered no word, and when his companion tried to ask him the meaning of it all he felt that his voice died in his throat.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	greybeard	greybeard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	uttered	utter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	companion	companion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	appos	_	_
20	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	19	det	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
26	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	ccomp	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	throat	throat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **utter** *speech: other* | past | the old greybeard | no word |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |
| 2 | **try** | past | greybeard's companion |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | greybeard's companion *not said here* | the meaning | companion |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **feel** | past | companion |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **die** | past | greybeard's voice |  |  |  |  | in greybeard's throat | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.patient V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in throat=Attribute |

<!-- .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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