--- title: So they sent off a messenger to the thicket, and begged so prettily… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: So they sent off a messenger to the thicket, and begged so prettily that they might have the loan of her shovel-handle of which the sheriff had spoken that they were not refused; so now they had a trace-pin which would not snap in two. Who acts: brother, trace pin. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/19/5/) [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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/19/) / 5 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Master-maid, part 3, sentence 5 So they sent off a messenger to the thicket, and begged so prettily that they might have the loan of her shovel-handle of which the sheriff had spoken that they were not refused; so now they had a trace-pin which would not snap in two. **Who acts:** brother, trace pin · **What happens:** send off, beg, have, speak, not refuse, not snap · **To what, where:** messenger, thicket, loan, sheriff, brother, trace pin · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, trace pin), 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:pg503:19:5 # text = So they sent off a messenger to the thicket, and begged so prettily that they might have the loan of her shovel-handle of which the sheriff had spoken that they were not refused; so now they had a trace-pin which would not snap in two. 1 So so ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 sent send VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 off off ADP RP _ 3 compound:prt _ _ 5 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 messenger messenger NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ 7 to to ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 thicket thicket NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 begged beg VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 13 so so ADV RB _ 14 advmod _ _ 14 prettily prettily ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 xcomp _ _ 15 that that SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 16 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 17 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 18 aux _ _ 18 have have VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 advcl _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 loan loan NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 22 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 23 shovel shovel NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 24 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 23 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 25 handle handle NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nmod _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 31 obl _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 sheriff sheriff NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 nsubj:pass _ _ 30 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 31 spoken speak VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 25 acl:relcl _ _ 32 that that SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 33 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj:pass _ _ 34 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux:pass _ _ 35 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 36 advmod _ _ 36 refused refuse VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 31 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 ; ; PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 38 so so ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ _ 39 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 41 advmod _ _ 40 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 41 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 43 trace trace NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 44 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 43 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 pin pin NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obj _ _ 46 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 49 nsubj _ _ 47 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 49 aux _ _ 48 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 49 advmod _ _ 49 snap snap VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 45 acl:relcl _ _ 50 in in ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 51 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 49 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **send off** | past | brother | a messenger | | the thicket | | | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent messenger=Theme to thicket=Destination | | 2 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | brother *not said here* | | | | | prettily *property* | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **have** | might | brother | the loan of three's shovel handle | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent loan=Patient | | 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive | | the sheriff | | | | of three's shovel handle | tree rules | | 5 | **not** **refuse** | past · passive | | brother | | | | | vn reject-77.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 6 | **have** | past | brother | a trace pin | | | now | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pin=Patient | | 7 | **not** **snap** | would | a trace pin | | | two | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in two=Location | | 8 | **loan** | | | three's shovel handle | | | | | nom loan «possession transitive»: of=patient | 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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/19/4/) - next →: [sentence 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/19/6/) - ↑ back to [The Master-maid, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/19/)