---
title: As soon as they saw that Simon had bought a mule, one of them said t… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: As soon as they saw that Simon had bought a mule, one of them said to his two boon companions, ‘My friends, this mule must be ours before we are many hours older.’ Who acts: rascals, Simon, one, mule. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 1, with its dependency tre
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1, sentence 6

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As soon as they saw that Simon had bought a mule, one of them said to his two boon companions, ‘My friends, this mule must be ours before we are many hours older.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** rascals, Simon, one, mule, we · **What happens:** see, buy, say, be · **To what, where:** mule, two boon companions, ours · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, 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 (rascals, Simon, one, mule), 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:pg7277:26:6
# text = As soon as they saw that Simon had bought a mule, one of them said to his two boon companions, ‘My friends, this mule must be ours before we are many hours older.’
1	As	as	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	Simon	Simon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	bought	buy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	ccomp	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	mule	mule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nsubj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nmod	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
19	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
20	boon	boon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	companions	companion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	det	_	_
28	mule	mule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
29	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	cop	_	_
31	ours	our	PRON	PRP	Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	conj	_	_
32	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
33	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
34	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
35	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl:unmarked	_	_
37	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	31	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | rascals *= rascal* |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **buy** | past · perfect | Simon | a mule |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mule=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | one of rascals |  | Simon's two boon companions and My friends |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to companion=Recipient |
| 4 | **is a** | must | this mule | ours |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | present | we |  |  |  | hour | old *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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