---
title: So, when the Master-maid asked him what the giant had set him to do… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So, when the Master-maid asked him what the giant had set him to do that day, he told her that he was to go underground and get the taxes. Who acts: Master maid, Prince. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master-maid, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/17/71/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Blue Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/) / [The Master-maid, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/17/) / 71

# The Blue Fairy Book, The Master-maid, part 1, sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So, when the Master-maid asked him what the giant had set him to do that day, he told her that he was to go underground and get the taxes.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Master maid, Prince · **What happens:** ask, set, do, tell, be, get · **To what, where:** Prince, giant, maid, taxes · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master-maid, 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 (Master maid, Prince), 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:pg503:17:71
# text = So, when the Master-maid asked him what the giant had set him to do that day, he told her that he was to go underground and get the taxes.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
3	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	Master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	maid	maid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	iobj	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	obj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	giant	giant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	ccomp	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
18	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	det	_	_
19	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
23	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	iobj	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
29	underground	underground	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	conj	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	taxes	tax	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the Master maid |  | Prince |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **set** | past · perfect · passive |  | the giant |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **do** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  | day |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Prince |  | maid |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **is** *not said to happen* | past | Prince |  |  |  |  | go, underground *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **get** | infinitive | Prince *not said here* | the taxes |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tax=Stimulus |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/17/70/)
- next →: [sentence 72](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/17/72/)
- ↑ back to [The Master-maid, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/17/)