---
title: Now the soldier’s name was really John, but for some reason or other… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now the soldier’s name was really John, but for some reason or other his friends always called him the Kinglet; why, no one ever knew, but so it was. Who acts: name, friends, John, soldier. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Soldier, with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Little Soldier, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now the soldier’s name was really John, but for some reason or other his friends always called him the Kinglet; why, no one ever knew, but so it was.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** name, friends, John, soldier · **What happens:** be, call, know, name · **To what, where:** John · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (name, friends, John, soldier), 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:pg7277:22:5
# text = Now the soldier’s name was really John, but for some reason or other his friends always called him the Kinglet; why, no one ever knew, but so it was.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	29	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	’s	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	really	really	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	det	_	_
13	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	_
14	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	conj	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
18	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	19	advmod	_	_
19	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	Kinglet	Kinglet	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	27	det	_	_
27	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
28	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	29	advmod	_	_
29	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	so	so	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the soldier's name | John |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **call** | past | soldier's friends |  | John |  |  | always *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 3 | **know** | past | John |  |  |  | now; ever |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **be** | past | name |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **name** |  | the soldier |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 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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