---
title: But though at first they disliked the handsome little boy, he soon p… — Indian Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But though at first they disliked the handsome little boy, he soon proved so useful to them, that ere long they all looked on him as their son. Who acts: slaves, boy, that. A sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# Indian Fairy Tales, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 12, sentence 123

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But though at first they disliked the handsome little boy, he soon proved so useful to them, that ere long they all looked on him as their son.

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**Who acts:** slaves, boy, that · **What happens:** dislike, prove, ere, look · **To what, where:** handsome little boy

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This is a sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (slaves, boy, that), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg7128:18:123
# text = But though at first they disliked the handsome little boy, he soon proved so useful to them, that ere long they all looked on him as their son.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	though	though	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	obl	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	disliked	dislike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	handsome	handsome	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	_
14	proved	prove	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	useful	useful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	xcomp	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
21	ere	ere	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
22	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	21	advmod	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	all	all	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	_
28	as	as	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dislike** | past | slaves *= slave* | the handsome little boy |  |  |  | though *property* | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer boy=Stimulus |
| 2 | **prove** | past | boy |  |  |  |  | soon, useful *property* | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **ere** | past | that |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **look** | past | slaves *= slave* |  |  |  |  | on boy; as slaves's son; all *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on he=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7128 (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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