--- title: It was in vain that the boy declared that he was only obeying the ki… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: It was in vain that the boy declared that he was only obeying the king's commands; the courtiers only replied that his majesty was not yet out of bed, and it was forbidden to wake him. Who acts: way, boy, courtiers, majesty. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33, wit --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/33/109/) [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 Orange Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/) / [Opening, part 33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/33/) / 109 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 33, sentence 109 It was in vain that the boy declared that he was only obeying the king's commands; the courtiers only replied that his majesty was not yet out of bed, and it was forbidden to wake him. **Who acts:** way, boy, courtiers, majesty, king · **What happens:** be, declare, obey, reply, not be, forbid · **To what, where:** commands, bed, way, king · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (way, boy, courtiers, majesty), 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:pg3027:33:109 # text = It was in vain that the boy declared that he was only obeying the king's commands; the courtiers only replied that his majesty was not yet out of bed, and it was forbidden to wake him. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 in in ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 4 vain vain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 that that SCONJ IN _ 8 mark _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 8 declared declare VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 advcl _ _ 9 that that SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 11 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 12 only only ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 13 obeying obey VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 8 advcl _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 16 's 's PART POS _ 15 case _ _ 17 commands command NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 ; ; PUNCT : _ 22 punct _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 courtiers courtier NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 nsubj _ _ 21 only only ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 22 replied reply VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 23 that that SCONJ IN _ 31 mark _ _ 24 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 25 majesty majesty NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 nsubj _ _ 26 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 cop _ _ 27 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 31 advmod _ _ 28 yet yet ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 29 out out ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 of of ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 31 bed bed NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj:pass _ _ 35 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux:pass _ _ 36 forbidden forbid VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 22 conj _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 wake wake VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 xcomp _ _ 39 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | way | | | | | vain *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | the boy | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **obey** | past · progressive | boy | the king's commands | | | | | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent command=Theme | | 4 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the courtiers | | | | | | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **not** **is** | past | king's majesty | | | bed | yet | | tree rules | | 6 | **forbid** | past · passive | | way | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **wake** | to-infinitive | | king | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient | | 8 | **command** | | the king | | | | | | nom command «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 108](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/33/108/) - next →: [sentence 110](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/33/110/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/33/)