--- title: When the dinner hour approached all three went home and asked their… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: When the dinner hour approached all three went home and asked their wives if the goat had returned with the necessary provisions, and had told them what they wished prepared for their meal. Who acts: dinner hour, three, goats. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/72/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/) / [The Biter Bit, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/) / 72 # The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1, sentence 72 When the dinner hour approached all three went home and asked their wives if the goat had returned with the necessary provisions, and had told them what they wished prepared for their meal. **Who acts:** dinner hour, three, goats · **What happens:** approach, go, ask, return, tell, wish · **To what, where:** wives, goat, goats · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (dinner hour, three, goats), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg7277:26:72 # text = When the dinner hour approached all three went home and asked their wives if the goat had returned with the necessary provisions, and had told them what they wished prepared for their meal. 1 When when SCONJ WRB _ 5 mark _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 3 dinner dinner NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 compound _ _ 4 hour hour NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 approached approach VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 advcl _ _ 6 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 7 det _ _ 7 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 8 nsubj _ _ 8 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 9 home home ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 12 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ _ 13 wives wife NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 obj _ _ 14 if if SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 goat goat NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nsubj:pass _ _ 17 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 aux _ _ 18 returned return VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 ccomp _ _ 19 with with ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 necessary necessary ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 provisions provision NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 25 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 told tell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 8 parataxis _ _ 27 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 iobj _ _ 28 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 26 obj _ _ 29 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 wished wish VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 acl:relcl _ _ 31 prepared prepare VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 30 xcomp _ _ 32 for for ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 34 meal meal NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **approach** | past | the dinner hour | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **go** | past | all three | | | | | home *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | all three *not said here* | | goats's wives | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient clause=Topic | | 4 | **return** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive | | the goat | | | | with the necessary provisions | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | | | goats *= goat* | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient what=Topic | | 6 | **wish** | past | goats *= goat* | | | | | | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 7 | **prepare** *not said to happen* | participle | goats *= goat* *not said here* | | | | | for goats's meal | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for meal=Beneficiary | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 71](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/71/) - next →: [sentence 73](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/73/) - ↑ back to [The Biter Bit, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/26/)