---
title: The King had a walnut shell ready, and the trial began; but not one… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The King had a walnut shell ready, and the trial began; but not one of the dogs the two eldest sons had brought with them would in the least fit into the shell. Who acts: King, trial. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 5, sentence 6

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The King had a walnut shell ready, and the trial began; but not one of the dogs the two eldest sons had brought with them would in the least fit into the shell.

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**Who acts:** King, trial · **What happens:** have, begin, bring · **To what, where:** walnut shell, one

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, trial), 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:pg7277:30:6
# text = The King had a walnut shell ready, and the trial began; but not one of the dogs the two eldest sons had brought with them would in the least fit into the shell.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	walnut	walnut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	trial	trial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
16	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	nummod	_	_
22	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	23	amod	_	_
23	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	32	amod	_	_
32	fit	fit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
33	into	into	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the King | a walnut shell |  |  |  | ready *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shell=Patient |
| 2 | **begin** | past | the trial |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **bring** | past · perfect · passive |  | one |  |  |  | of the dogs; with dogs *= dog* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: subject=Theme of dog=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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