---
title: As the son, however, knew nothing of his father’s acts, the Caliph g… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: As the son, however, knew nothing of his father’s acts, the Caliph gave him his choice between death and a pinch of the magic snuff. Who acts: Caliph, father. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Caliph Stork, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Story of Caliph Stork, sentence 182

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As the son, however, knew nothing of his father’s acts, the Caliph gave him his choice between death and a pinch of the magic snuff.

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**Who acts:** Caliph, father · **What happens:** know, give, act, pinch · **To what, where:** nothing, choice, arrival, magic snuff

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Caliph Stork. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Caliph, father), 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:pg7277:7:182
# text = As the son, however, knew nothing of his father’s acts, the Caliph gave him his choice between death and a pinch of the magic snuff.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	however	however	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	7	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	’s	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	acts	act	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	iobj	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	choice	choice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
21	between	between	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	pinch	pinch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	magic	magic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	snuff	snuff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past |  | nothing |  |  |  | as the son; however *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus as son=Attribute |
| 2 | **give** | past | the Caliph | arrival's choice and a pinch of the magic snuff | arrival |  |  | between death | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient choice=Theme |
| 3 | **act** |  | arrival's father |  |  |  |  |  | nom act «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |
| 4 | **pinch** |  |  | the magic snuff |  |  |  |  | nom pinch «state transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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