--- title: The cunning creature pretended he knew nothing of what had happened… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The cunning creature pretended he knew nothing of what had happened to the Prince, and asked him how he had fared with the horse. Who acts: cunning creature, creature. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Mermaid, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/52/55/) [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 Golden Mermaid](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/52/) / 55 # The Green Fairy Book, The Golden Mermaid, sentence 55 The cunning creature pretended he knew nothing of what had happened to the Prince, and asked him how he had fared with the horse. **Who acts:** cunning creature, creature · **What happens:** pretend, know, happen, ask, fare · **To what, where:** nothing, creature This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Mermaid. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cunning creature, creature), 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:pg7277:52:55 # text = The cunning creature pretended he knew nothing of what had happened to the Prince, and asked him how he had fared with the horse. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 cunning cunning ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 creature creature NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 pretended pretend VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 ccomp _ _ 7 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 6 obj _ _ 8 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 11 nsubj _ _ 10 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 aux _ _ 11 happened happen VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 7 acl:relcl _ _ 12 to to ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 Prince Prince PROPN NNP Number=Sing 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 17 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 18 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 iobj _ _ 19 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 22 advmod _ _ 20 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 21 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 22 fared fare VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 17 advcl _ _ 23 with with ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 horse horse NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **pretend** | past | the cunning creature | | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **know** | past | creature | nothing | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus | | 3 | **happen** | past · perfect | | | | | | to the Prince | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the cunning creature *not said here* | | creature | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 5 | **fare** | past · perfect | creature | | | | | with the horse | tree rules | 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 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/52/54/) - next →: [sentence 56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/52/56/) - ↑ back to [The Golden Mermaid](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/52/)