--- title: When they saw that they could not by any means prevail on him to go… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: When they saw that they could not by any means prevail on him to go in with them, they came out to him with meat and drink, and the best of everything that they had prepared for the wedding; but the Prince refused to touch anything, and would do nothing but put the horses in as quickly as he could. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/18/30/) [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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/18/) / 30 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Master-maid, part 2, sentence 30 When they saw that they could not by any means prevail on him to go in with them, they came out to him with meat and drink, and the best of everything that they had prepared for the wedding; but the Prince refused to touch anything, and would do nothing but put the horses in as quickly as he could. **Who acts:** horses, Prince · **What happens:** see, not mean, prevail, go in, come out, prepare · **To what, where:** giant, anything, nothing, horses · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master-maid, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (horses, Prince), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg503:18:30 # text = When they saw that they could not by any means prevail on him to go in with them, they came out to him with meat and drink, and the best of everything that they had prepared for the wedding; but the Prince refused to touch anything, and would do nothing but put the horses in as quickly as he could. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 3 advmod _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 advcl _ _ 4 that that SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 5 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 6 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 10 aux _ _ 7 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 10 advmod _ _ 8 by by ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 10 obl _ _ 10 means mean VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 ccomp _ _ 11 prevail prevail VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 ccomp _ _ 12 on on ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 13 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 obl _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 advcl _ _ 16 in in ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 17 with with ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 20 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 21 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 22 out out ADV RB _ 21 advmod _ _ 23 to to ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 obl _ _ 25 with with ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 26 meat meat NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 28 drink drink NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 21 advcl _ _ 33 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 everything everything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Tot 32 obl _ _ 35 that that SCONJ IN _ 38 mark _ _ 36 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 37 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 38 prepared prepare VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 34 acl:relcl _ _ 39 for for ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 wedding wedding NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ; ; PUNCT : _ 46 punct _ _ 43 but but CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 Prince Prince PROPN NNP Number=Sing 46 nsubj _ _ 46 refused refuse VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 conj _ _ 47 to to PART TO _ 48 mark _ _ 48 touch touch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 46 xcomp _ _ 49 anything anything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 48 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 53 punct _ _ 51 and and CCONJ CC _ 53 cc _ _ 52 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 53 aux _ _ 53 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 48 conj _ _ 54 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 53 obj _ _ 55 but but CCONJ CC _ 56 cc _ _ 56 put put VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 48 conj _ _ 57 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 58 det _ _ 58 horses horse NOUN NNS Number=Plur 56 obj _ _ 59 in in ADP RP _ 56 compound:prt _ _ 60 as as ADV RB _ 61 advmod _ _ 61 quickly quickly ADV RB _ 56 advmod _ _ 62 as as SCONJ IN _ 64 mark _ _ 63 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 64 nsubj _ _ 64 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 61 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 65 . . PUNCT . _ 21 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | past | horses *= horse* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **not** **mean** | could | horses *= horse* | | | | | by any | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **prevail** | infinitive | | | | | | on giant | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on he=Location | | 4 | **go in** | to-infinitive | | | | | | with horses *= horse* | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with they=Beneficiary | | 5 | **come out** | past | horses *= horse* | | giant | | | with meat and drink; out *property* | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient | | 6 | **prepare** | past · perfect | horses *= horse* | | | | | for the wedding | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for wedding=Beneficiary | | 7 | **refuse** | past | the Prince | | | | | | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 8 | **not** **touch** | to-infinitive | the Prince *not said here* | anything | | | | | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme anything=Co-Theme | | 9 | **do** | would | the Prince *not said here* | nothing | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Eventuality | | 10 | **put in** | infinitive | the Prince *not said here* | | the horses | | | quickly *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent horse=Goal | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/18/29/) - next →: [sentence 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/18/31/) - ↑ back to [The Master-maid, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/18/)