---
title: The former coachman grew as white as a sheet when he saw the shepher… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The former coachman grew as white as a sheet when he saw the shepherd, and, falling on his knees, begged for mercy and pardon. Who acts: former coachman, coachman. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Dogs, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Three Dogs, sentence 54

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The former coachman grew as white as a sheet when he saw the shepherd, and, falling on his knees, begged for mercy and pardon.

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**Who acts:** former coachman, coachman · **What happens:** grow, see, fall, beg · **To what, where:** shepherd, knees

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Dogs. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (former coachman, coachman), 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:pg7277:56:54
# text = The former coachman grew as white as a sheet when he saw the shepherd, and, falling on his knees, begged for mercy and pardon.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	former	former	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	coachman	coachman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	as	as	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sheet	sheet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	begged	beg	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
24	for	for	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	pardon	pardon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past | the former coachman |  |  |  |  | white *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | past | coachman | the shepherd |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer shepherd=Stimulus |
| 3 | **fall** | gerund | the former coachman *not said here* |  |  | coachman's knees |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on knee=Location |
| 4 | **beg** *speech: request* | participle |  | coachman's knees *not said here* |  |  |  | for mercy and pardon | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent for mercy=Topic |

<!-- .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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