--- title: So he called his three children to him and said, ‘My dear sons, I am… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: So he called his three children to him and said, ‘My dear sons, I am growing old, and am weary of reigning, but I can’t make up my mind to which of you three I should yield my crown, for I love you all equally. Who acts: three, I, you, my. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Bit --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/29/68/) [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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/29/) / 68 # The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 4, sentence 68 So he called his three children to him and said, ‘My dear sons, I am growing old, and am weary of reigning, but I can’t make up my mind to which of you three I should yield my crown, for I love you all equally. **Who acts:** three, I, you, my · **What happens:** call, say, grow, be, reign, not make up · **To what, where:** three children, child, mind, crown, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (three, I, you, my), 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:pg7277:29:68 # text = So he called his three children to him and said, ‘My dear sons, I am growing old, and am weary of reigning, but I can’t make up my mind to which of you three I should yield my crown, for I love you all equally. 1 So so ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 called call VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 6 nmod:poss _ _ 5 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 6 nummod _ _ 6 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obj _ _ 7 to to ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 obl _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 12 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 My my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 14 dear dear ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 sons son NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 17 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 18 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 19 aux _ _ 19 growing grow VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 15 conj _ _ 20 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 23 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 24 cop _ _ 24 weary weary ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 parataxis _ _ 25 of of SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 26 reigning reign VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 24 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 28 but but CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 29 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 30 ca can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 31 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 32 advmod _ _ 32 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 conj _ _ 33 up up ADP RP _ 32 compound:prt _ _ 34 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 35 nmod:poss _ _ 35 mind mind NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obj _ _ 36 to to ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 37 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 43 obl _ _ 38 of of ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 40 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 39 obj _ _ 41 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 42 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 43 aux _ _ 43 yield yield VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 32 parataxis _ _ 44 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 45 nmod:poss _ _ 45 crown crown NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 47 for for SCONJ IN _ 49 mark _ _ 48 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 49 nsubj _ _ 49 love love VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 43 conj _ _ 50 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 49 obj _ _ 51 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 50 nmod:unmarked _ _ 52 equally equally ADV RB _ 49 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **call** *speech: assert* | past | three | three's three children | child | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent child=Topic to he=Recipient | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | three *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **grow** | present · progressive | I | | | | | old *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **is** | present | | | | | | weary *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **reign** | gerund | | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **not** **make up** | can | I | my mind | | | | | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme mind=Pivot | | 7 | **yield** | should | you | my crown | | | | | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent crown=Theme to which=Goal | | 8 | **love** | present | I | you | | | | equally *property* | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer you=Stimulus | | 9 | **mind** | | my | | | | | | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent | | 10 | **crown** | | my | | | | | | nom crown «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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 67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/29/67/) - next →: [sentence 69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/29/69/) - ↑ back to [The Biter Bit, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/29/)