---
title: When they were ready to start and the King’s son had already mounted… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When they were ready to start and the King’s son had already mounted his horse the old woman said: ‘Wait a minute, I must give you a stirrup cup.’ Who acts: brews, old woman, I. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Riddle, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Riddle, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When they were ready to start and the King’s son had already mounted his horse the old woman said: ‘Wait a minute, I must give you a stirrup cup.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** brews, old woman, I · **What happens:** be, start, mount, say, wait, give · **To what, where:** son, stirrup cup, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Riddle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brews, old woman, I), 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:pg7277:47:15
# text = When they were ready to start and the King’s son had already mounted his horse the old woman said: ‘Wait a minute, I must give you a stirrup cup.’
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	ccomp	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’s	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	already	already	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	mounted	mount	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
22	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	Wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	ccomp	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	29	iobj	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	stirrup	stirrup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	cup	cup	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	23	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | brews *= brew* |  |  |  |  | ready *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **start** | to-infinitive | brews *= brew* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **mount** | past · perfect · passive |  | the King's son |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme horse=Destination |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the old woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **wait** | infinitive |  |  |  |  | minute |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **give** | must | I | a stirrup cup | you |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient cup=Theme |

<!-- .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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