---
title: “I have no wish to forbid this marriage; but, before I can allow it… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “I have no wish to forbid this marriage; but, before I can allow it to be celebrated, the bridegroom must prove himself worthy of such a bride by fulfilling three tasks. Who acts: I, marriage, bridegroom. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 24, with its de
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 24, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I have no wish to forbid this marriage; but, before I can allow it to be celebrated, the bridegroom must prove himself worthy of such a bride by fulfilling three tasks.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, marriage, bridegroom · **What happens:** have, forbid, allow, celebrate, prove, fulfil · **To what, where:** wish, marriage, bridegroom, three tasks

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, marriage, bridegroom), 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:pg3282:24:1
# text = “I have no wish to forbid this marriage; but, before I can allow it to be celebrated, the bridegroom must prove himself worthy of such a bride by fulfilling three tasks.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	wish	wish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	forbid	forbid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
9	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	allow	allow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	celebrated	celebrate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	bridegroom	bridegroom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
24	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	prove	prove	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
26	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	25	obj	_	_
27	worthy	worthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	xcomp	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	31	det:predet	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	bride	bride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
32	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
33	fulfilling	fulfil	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
34	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	nummod	_	_
35	tasks	task	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** *in a quote* | present | I | no wish |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wish=Patient |
| 2 | **forbid** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | this marriage |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer marriage=Theme |
| 3 | **allow** *in a quote* | can | I | marriage |  |  |  |  | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer it=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **celebrate** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive · passive | marriage *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP» |
| 5 | **prove** *in a quote* | must | the bridegroom | bridegroom |  |  |  | worthy *property* | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Theme |
| 6 | **fulfil** *in a quote* | gerund | the bridegroom *not said here* | three tasks |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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