---
title: I could not come before; I had something of importance to see about,… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: I could not come before; I had something of importance to see about, and a long way to go, too; but now you shall just see!” said the man, and then he set the hand-mill on the table, and bade it first grind light, then a table-cloth, and then meat, and beer, and everything else that was good for a C
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Why the Sea Is Salt, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I could not come before; I had something of importance to see about, and a long way to go, too; but now you shall just see!” said the man, and then he set the hand-mill on the table, and bade it first grind light, then a table-cloth, and then meat, and beer, and everything else that was good for a Christmas Eve’s supper; and the mill ground all that he ordered.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, you, man, bade · **What happens:** not come, have, see about, go, see, say · **To what, where:** something, hand mill, table, bade, mill ground · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Why the Sea Is Salt. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, you, man, bade), 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:pg503:20:27
# text = I could not come before; I had something of importance to see about, and a long way to go, too; but now you shall just see!” said the man, and then he set the hand-mill on the table, and bade it first grind light, then a table-cloth, and then meat, and beer, and everything else that was good for a Christmas Eve’s supper; and the mill ground all that he ordered.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	ccomp	_	_
5	before	before	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
9	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	8	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	importance	importance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl	_	_
14	about	about	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	parataxis	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	too	too	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
26	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	advmod	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
28	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	just	just	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	30	punct	_	_
33	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	40	advmod	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
42	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
45	on	on	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
50	bade	bade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	_
51	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
52	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	53	advmod	_	_
53	grind	grind	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|Typo=Yes|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
54	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
56	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	60	advmod	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
58	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
62	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
63	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	64	advmod	_	_
64	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
66	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	67	cc	_	_
67	beer	beer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
69	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	70	cc	_	_
70	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	64	conj	_	_
71	else	else	ADV	RB	_	70	advmod	_	_
72	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	74	nsubj	_	_
73	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	74	cop	_	_
74	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	70	acl:relcl	_	_
75	for	for	ADP	IN	_	80	case	_	_
76	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	78	det	_	_
77	Christmas	Christmas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	78	compound	_	_
78	Eve	Eve	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	80	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
79	’s	's	PART	POS	_	78	case	_	_
80	supper	supper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	74	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
81	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	89	punct	_	_
82	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	89	cc	_	_
83	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	85	det	_	_
84	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	85	compound	_	_
85	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	89	obl	_	_
86	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	89	det:predet	_	_
87	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	89	mark	_	_
88	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	89	nsubj	_	_
89	ordered	order	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
90	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	33	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **come** | could | I |  |  |  |  | before *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | past | I | something |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Patient |
| 3 | **see about** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | something *not said here* |  |  |  | about *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **go** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **see** | shall | you |  |  |  | now |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | the man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **set** *in a quote* | past | Man | the hand mill |  | the table | then |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent mill=Theme on table=Destination |
| 8 | **grind** *in a quote* | present | bade | bade |  |  |  | first *property* | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP.instrument V NP»: agent=Instrument light=Patient |
| 9 | **is** *in a quote* | past |  |  |  |  |  | for a Christmas Eve's supper; good *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **order** *in a quote* | past | Man | the mill ground |  |  |  |  | vn order-58.3-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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