---
title: But now,” she added, “let supper be served, and let the musicians be… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But now,” she added, “let supper be served, and let the musicians be silent, as the Prince does not understand what they are saying.” Who acts: mother, supper, musicians, Prince. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Cat, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The White Cat, part 1, sentence 42

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But now,” she added, “let supper be served, and let the musicians be silent, as the Prince does not understand what they are saying.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** mother, supper, musicians, Prince, Princes · **What happens:** add, let, serve, be, not understand, say · **To what, where:** supper, musicians · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (mother, supper, musicians, Prince), 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:pg503:23:42
# text = But now,” she added, “let supper be served, and let the musicians be silent, as the Prince does not understand what they are saying.”
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	added	add	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
10	supper	supper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	served	serve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	musicians	musician	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	cop	_	_
19	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
24	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	parataxis	_	_
27	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	30	obj	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **add** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | mother |  |  |  | now |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **let** | infinitive |  | supper |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **serve** | infinitive · passive | supper *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V PP.attribute» |
| 4 | **let** | infinitive |  | the musicians |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent musician=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | infinitive | the musicians *not said here* |  |  |  |  | silent *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **understand** | present · do-support | the Prince |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · progressive | Princes *= prince* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

<!-- .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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