---
title: To this he replied that as my misfortune resulted from a spell, this… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: To this he replied that as my misfortune resulted from a spell, this was rather difficult, but he would do his best, and at any rate he could promise that before my fifteenth birthday I should be freed from the enchantment if I could get a man who would swear to marry me as I was. Who acts: man, thi
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 4, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To this he replied that as my misfortune resulted from a spell, this was rather difficult, but he would do his best, and at any rate he could promise that before my fifteenth birthday I should be freed from the enchantment if I could get a man who would swear to marry me as I was.

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**Who acts:** man, this, fifteenth birthday, I · **What happens:** reply, result, be, do, promise, free · **To what, where:** that, this, misfortune, spell, best, rate

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, this, fifteenth birthday, I), 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:pg3454:4:28
# text = To this he replied that as my misfortune resulted from a spell, this was rather difficult, but he would do his best, and at any rate he could promise that before my fifteenth birthday I should be freed from the enchantment if I could get a man who would swear to marry me as I was.
1	To	to	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obl	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obj	_	_
6	as	as	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	misfortune	misfortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
9	resulted	result	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	spell	spell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	parataxis	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	29	det	_	_
29	rate	rate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	promise	promise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
34	before	before	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
36	fifteenth	fifteenth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	birthday	birthday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	ccomp	_	_
38	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj:pass	_	_
39	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
40	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	aux:pass	_	_
41	freed	free	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	acl:relcl	_	_
42	from	from	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	enchantment	enchantment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
45	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
46	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	advcl	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
51	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	53	nsubj	_	_
52	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
53	swear	swear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	acl:relcl	_	_
54	to	to	PART	TO	_	55	mark	_	_
55	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	xcomp	_	_
56	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	55	obj	_	_
57	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
58	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj	_	_
59	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | man | that | this |  |  | as my misfortune | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent that=Topic to this=Recipient |
| 2 | **result** | participle |  | my misfortune *not said here* |  | a spell |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | this |  |  |  |  | difficult *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **do** | would | man | man's best |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Eventuality |
| 5 | **promise** *speech: promise* | could | man |  |  | any rate |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **free** | should · passive | my fifteenth birthday *not said here* | I |  | the enchantment |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Source |
| 7 | **get** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | I | a man |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus |
| 8 | **swear** | would | a man |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 9 | **marry** | to-infinitive | a man *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient |
| 10 | **be** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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