--- title: As soon as he had bought a pretty one he was sure to see a still pre… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: As soon as he had bought a pretty one he was sure to see a still prettier, and then he had to get rid of all the others and buy that one, as, being alone, he found it impossible to take thirty or forty thousand dogs about with him. Who acts: two. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, T --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/23/13/) [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 White Cat, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/23/) / 13 # The Blue Fairy Book, The White Cat, part 1, sentence 13 As soon as he had bought a pretty one he was sure to see a still prettier, and then he had to get rid of all the others and buy that one, as, being alone, he found it impossible to take thirty or forty thousand dogs about with him. **Who acts:** two · **What happens:** buy, be, see, have, get, find · **To what, where:** pretty one, prettier, one, dog, thousand dogs · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Cat, 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 (two), 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:pg503:23:13 # text = As soon as he had bought a pretty one he was sure to see a still prettier, and then he had to get rid of all the others and buy that one, as, being alone, he found it impossible to take thirty or forty thousand dogs about with him. 1 As as ADV RB _ 2 advmod _ _ 2 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 6 advmod _ _ 3 as as SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 4 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 5 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 6 bought buy VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 8 pretty pretty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 11 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 cop _ _ 12 sure sure ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 acl:relcl _ _ 13 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 14 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 xcomp _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 16 still still ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 prettier pretty ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 20 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 22 advmod _ _ 21 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 24 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 xcomp _ _ 25 rid rid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 xcomp _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 27 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 29 det:predet _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 others other NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 obl _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 buy buy VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 conj _ _ 32 that that SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 33 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 31 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 35 as as ADP IN _ 31 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 37 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 38 cop _ _ 38 alone alone ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 40 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 41 found find VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 parataxis _ _ 42 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 obj _ _ 43 impossible impossible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 xcomp _ _ 44 to to PART TO _ 45 mark _ _ 45 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 41 ccomp _ _ 46 thirty thirty NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 49 compound _ _ 47 or or CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 48 forty forty NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 46 conj _ _ 49 thousand thousand NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 50 nummod _ _ 50 dogs dog NOUN NNS Number=Plur 45 obj _ _ 51 about about ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 52 with with ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 53 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 54 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **buy** | past · perfect | two | a pretty one | | | | soon *property* | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme | | 2 | **is** | past | two | a pretty one *not said here* | | | | sure *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **see** | to-infinitive | two *not said here* | a prettier | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 4 | **have** | past | two | | | | then | | tree rules | | 5 | **get** | to-infinitive | two *not said here* | | | | | rid *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **buy** | infinitive | two *not said here* | one | | | | | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme | | 7 | **is** | gerund | | | | | | alone *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **find** | past | two | dog | | | | impossible *property* | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent it=Attribute clause=Theme | | 9 | **take** | to-infinitive | | | thousand dogs | | | with two; about *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument dog=Destination | 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 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/23/12/) - next →: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/23/14/) - ↑ back to [The White Cat, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/23/)