---
title: 'If I have to wait three months before I can marry the princess I sh… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'If I have to wait three months before I can marry the princess I shall die!' was all this spoilt boy would say; and at length the king, in despair, resolved to send a fresh embassy to Desiree's father to implore him to permit the marriage to be celebrated at once. ' Who acts: I, spoilt boy. A sente
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 23, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'If I have to wait three months before I can marry the princess I shall die!' was all this spoilt boy would say; and at length the king, in despair, resolved to send a fresh embassy to Desiree's father to implore him to permit the marriage to be celebrated at once. '

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**Who acts:** I, spoilt boy · **What happens:** wait, marry, die, be, resolve, send · **To what, where:** princess, fresh embassy, father, Desiree, marriage

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, spoilt boy), 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:pg3027:23:8
# text = 'If I have to wait three months before I can marry the princess I shall die!' was all this spoilt boy would say; and at length the king, in despair, resolved to send a fresh embassy to Desiree's father to implore him to permit the marriage to be celebrated at once. '
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	wait	wait	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
21	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	24	det:predet	_	_
22	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	det	_	_
23	spoilt	spoilt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
25	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	despair	despair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
37	resolved	resolve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	parataxis	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	xcomp	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	fresh	fresh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	embassy	embassy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
43	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	Desiree	Desiree	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	46	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	's	's	PART	POS	_	44	case	_	_
46	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
47	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
48	implore	implore	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	advcl	_	_
49	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
51	permit	permit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	advcl	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	_
54	to	to	PART	TO	_	56	mark	_	_
55	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	aux:pass	_	_
56	celebrated	celebrate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	53	acl	_	_
57	at	at	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
58	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
60	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | present |  |  |  |  | month |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **marry** | can | I | the princess |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent princess=Patient |
| 3 | **die** | shall | I | the princess *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | would · past | all spoilt boy |  |  |  |  | say *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **resolve** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **send** | to-infinitive |  | a fresh embassy | Desiree's father |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent embassy=Theme to father=Destination |
| 7 | **implore** | to-infinitive |  |  | Desiree |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 8 | **permit** | to-infinitive |  | the marriage |  |  |  |  | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent marriage=Theme |
| 9 | **celebrate** | to-infinitive · passive |  | the marriage *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP» |

<!-- .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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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