---
title: When this had happened five or six times, he began to understand tha… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When this had happened five or six times, he began to understand that they were making fun of him. Who acts: this, moon, father. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Soldier, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Little Soldier, sentence 181

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When this had happened five or six times, he began to understand that they were making fun of him.

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**Who acts:** this, moon, father · **What happens:** happen, begin, understand, make · **To what, where:** fun

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Soldier. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (this, moon, father), 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:pg7277:22:181
# text = When this had happened five or six times, he began to understand that they were making fun of him.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
5	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	conj	_	_
8	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	that	that	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	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
18	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past · perfect | this |  |  |  | time |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **begin** | past | moon |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **understand** | to-infinitive | moon *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **make** | past · progressive | father | fun of moon |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset fun=Product |

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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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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