---
title: This sounded likely, but the messenger who was sent to the Court ret… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: This sounded likely, but the messenger who was sent to the Court returned with the news that no one there knew anything about the matter. Who acts: This, messenger, one. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 30, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 30, sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
This sounded likely, but the messenger who was sent to the Court returned with the news that no one there knew anything about the matter.

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**Who acts:** This, messenger, one · **What happens:** sound, send, return, know · **To what, where:** messenger, Court, anything

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, messenger, one), 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:pg2435:30:71
# text = This sounded likely, but the messenger who was sent to the Court returned with the news that no one there knew anything about the matter.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sounded	sound	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	likely	likely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
5	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Court	Court	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	20	det	_	_
20	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	_
22	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
23	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	22	obj	_	_
24	about	about	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sound** | past | This |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **send** | past · passive |  | the messenger | the Court |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to court=Destination |
| 3 | **return** | past | the messenger |  |  |  |  | with the news | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **know** | past | no one | anything |  |  |  | about the matter | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer anything=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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