---
title: It is only that shortly before we left I heard that the sultan of my… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It is only that shortly before we left I heard that the sultan of my country is very ill, and that the only thing to cure him is a monkey’s heart.’ Who acts: many, I, sultan, only thing. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5, sentence 57

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is only that shortly before we left I heard that the sultan of my country is very ill, and that the only thing to cure him is a monkey’s heart.’

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**Who acts:** many, I, sultan, only thing · **What happens:** be, hear, cure · **To what, where:** friend, heart

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (many, I, sultan, only thing), 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:pg3454:5:57
# text = It is only that shortly before we left I heard that the sultan of my country is very ill, and that the only thing to cure him is a monkey’s heart.’
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	shortly	shortly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sultan	sultan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	very	very	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	cure	cure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	acl	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	monkey	monkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	’s	's	PART	POS	_	31	case	_	_
33	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | many |  |  |  |  | leave, shortly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | present | the sultan of my country |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **cure** | to-infinitive | the only thing *not said here* | friend |  |  |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer he=Source |
| 5 | **is a** | present | the only thing | a monkey's heart |  |  |  |  | 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 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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