---
title: They all thought that it was ridiculous to be drawn to church by a c… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They all thought that it was ridiculous to be drawn to church by a calf, but there was nothing else for it but to send a messenger once more, and beg as prettily as they could, on behalf of the King, that she would let them have the loan of the calf that the bailiff had told them about. Who acts: br
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Master-maid, part 3, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They all thought that it was ridiculous to be drawn to church by a calf, but there was nothing else for it but to send a messenger once more, and beg as prettily as they could, on behalf of the King, that she would let them have the loan of the calf that the bailiff had told them about.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** brother, coach, calf, nothing, bailiff · **What happens:** think, be, draw, send, beg, let · **To what, where:** church, messenger, behalf, brother, loan, bailiff · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master-maid, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brother, coach, calf, nothing), 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:pg503:19:14
# text = They all thought that it was ridiculous to be drawn to church by a calf, but there was nothing else for it but to send a messenger once more, and beg as prettily as they could, on behalf of the King, that she would let them have the loan of the calf that the bailiff had told them about.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	3	advmod	_	_
3	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	ridiculous	ridiculous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	drawn	draw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	calf	calf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	19	expl	_	_
19	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
20	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	19	nsubj	_	_
21	else	else	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nmod	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	30	advmod	_	_
30	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	beg	beg	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
34	as	as	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	prettily	prettily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	xcomp	_	_
36	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	on	on	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	behalf	behalf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
46	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
47	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
48	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	conj	_	_
50	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obj	_	_
51	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	xcomp	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	loan	loan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	_
54	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	calf	calf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod	_	_
57	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	61	mark	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	bailiff	bailiff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nsubj:pass	_	_
60	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
61	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	56	acl:relcl	_	_
62	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	iobj	_	_
63	about	about	ADV	RB	_	61	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | brother |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | coach |  |  |  |  | ridiculous *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **draw** | to-infinitive · passive | a calf |  |  | church |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent to church=Destination |
| 4 | **be** | past | nothing |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **send** | to-infinitive | brother *not said here* | a messenger |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent messenger=Theme |
| 6 | **beg** *speech: request* | present |  |  |  | behalf of the King |  | prettily *property* | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **let** | would | bailiff | brother |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **have** | infinitive | brother *not said here* | the loan of the calf |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent loan=Patient |
| 9 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · perfect · passive | the calf *not said here* | the bailiff | brother |  |  | about *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient they=Topic |
| 10 | **loan** |  |  | the calf |  |  |  |  | nom loan «possession transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 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.

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