---
title: It was absurd to imagine that the apothecary's nephew could ever mar… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was absurd to imagine that the apothecary's nephew could ever marry the king's daughter; so he did his best to forget her, and study harder than before, till the royal proclamation suddenly filled him with hope. Who acts: It, nephew, royal proclamation. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by An
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 38, sentence 37

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It was absurd to imagine that the apothecary's nephew could ever marry the king's daughter; so he did his best to forget her, and study harder than before, till the royal proclamation suddenly filled him with hope.

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**Who acts:** It, nephew, royal proclamation · **What happens:** be, imagine, marry, forget, fill · **To what, where:** daughter, princess, Gilguerillo

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, nephew, royal proclamation), 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:pg3027:38:37
# text = It was absurd to imagine that the apothecary's nephew could ever marry the king's daughter; so he did his best to forget her, and study harder than before, till the royal proclamation suddenly filled him with hope.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	absurd	absurd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	imagine	imagine	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	apothecary	apothecary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	nephew	nephew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	13	advmod	_	_
13	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	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	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	parataxis	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	forget	forget	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	csubj	_	_
26	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	study	study	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl:unmarked	_	_
30	harder	hard	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	parataxis	_	_
31	than	than	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	before	before	ADV	RB	_	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
34	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	royal	royal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	proclamation	proclamation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
38	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	filled	fill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	hope	hope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | It |  |  |  |  | absurd *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **imagine** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **marry** | could | the apothecary's nephew | the king's daughter |  |  | ever |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Patient |
| 4 | **forget** | to-infinitive |  | princess |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **fill** | past | the royal proclamation | Gilguerillo |  |  |  | with hope; suddenly *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent he=Patient with hope=Instrument |

<!-- .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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