---
title: The princess could not think who could have bestowed this present on… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The princess could not think who could have bestowed this present on her, but she bade her servant to tell the merchant that if he would return, after he had finished his business in the city, she would give him her reply. Who acts: princess, Wali, merchant. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by A
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 1, sentence 18

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The princess could not think who could have bestowed this present on her, but she bade her servant to tell the merchant that if he would return, after he had finished his business in the city, she would give him her reply.

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**Who acts:** princess, Wali, merchant · **What happens:** not think, bestow, bade, tell, return, finish · **To what, where:** present, servant, merchant, business, city, reply · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (princess, Wali, merchant), 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:pg3282:34:18
# text = The princess could not think who could have bestowed this present on her, but she bade her servant to tell the merchant that if he would return, after he had finished his business in the city, she would give him her reply.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux	_	_
9	bestowed	bestow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	ccomp	_	_
10	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	bade	bade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
18	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	28	advcl	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
43	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	iobj	_	_
44	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	reply	reply	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | could | the princess |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **bestow** | could · perfect · passive |  | this present |  |  |  | on princess | tree rules |
| 3 | **bade** | past | princess | princess's servant |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | princess *not said here* | the merchant |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent merchant=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **return** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | Wali |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **finish** | past · perfect | Wali | Wali's business |  | the city |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector business=Eventuality |
| 7 | **give** | would | merchant | merchant's reply | Wali |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient reply=Theme |
| 8 | **reply** |  | merchant |  |  |  |  |  | nom reply «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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