---
title: Never was there a pleasanter hunting party, and when they returned t… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Never was there a pleasanter hunting party, and when they returned to the castle the Prince and the White Cat supped together as before, but when they had finished she offered him a crystal goblet, which must have contained a magic draught, for, as soon as he had swallowed its contents, he forgot ev
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/23/53/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 53

# The Blue Fairy Book, The White Cat, part 1, sentence 53

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Never was there a pleasanter hunting party, and when they returned to the castle the Prince and the White Cat supped together as before, but when they had finished she offered him a crystal goblet, which must have contained a magic draught, for, as soon as he had swallowed its contents, he forgot everything, even the little dog that he was seeking for the King, and only thought how happy he was to be with the White Cat!

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** cats, monkey, party · **What happens:** not be, return, sup, finish, offer, contain · **To what, where:** White Cat, crystal goblet, party, everything, little dog · **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 (cats, monkey, party), 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:pg503:23:53
# text = Never was there a pleasanter hunting party, and when they returned to the castle the Prince and the White Cat supped together as before, but when they had finished she offered him a crystal goblet, which must have contained a magic draught, for, as soon as he had swallowed its contents, he forgot everything, even the little dog that he was seeking for the King, and only thought how happy he was to be with the White Cat!
1	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	33	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	pleasanter	pleasant	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	amod	_	_
6	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	advcl	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	appos	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	White	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	_
22	supped	sup	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
23	together	together	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	before	before	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
28	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	31	advmod	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
32	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	offered	offer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	iobj	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	crystal	crystal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	goblet	goblet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
40	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	aux	_	_
42	contained	contain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	acl:relcl	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	magic	magic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	draught	draught	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
47	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
49	as	as	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
50	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	54	advmod	_	_
51	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj:pass	_	_
53	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	swallowed	swallow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	conj	_	_
55	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	contents	contents	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	54	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
58	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj	_	_
59	forgot	forget	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
60	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	59	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
62	even	even	ADV	RB	_	65	advmod	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
64	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	65	amod	_	_
65	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	appos	_	_
66	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	69	mark	_	_
67	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	69	nsubj	_	_
68	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	69	aux	_	_
69	seeking	seek	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	65	acl	_	_
70	for	for	ADP	IN	_	72	case	_	_
71	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	72	det	_	_
72	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	69	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
73	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	76	punct	_	_
74	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	76	cc	_	_
75	only	only	ADV	RB	_	76	advmod	_	_
76	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
77	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	78	advmod	_	_
78	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	76	xcomp	_	_
79	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	86	nsubj	_	_
80	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	86	cop	_	_
81	to	to	PART	TO	_	86	mark	_	_
82	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	86	cop	_	_
83	with	with	ADP	IN	_	86	case	_	_
84	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	86	det	_	_
85	White	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	86	amod	_	_
86	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	76	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
87	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	33	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | a pleasanter hunting party *obl:unmarked*; there *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **return** | past | cats *= cat* |  |  |  |  | to the castle *result* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to castle=Result |
| 3 | **sup** | participle |  | the White Cat *not said here* |  |  |  | before, together *property* | vn dine-39.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **finish** | past · perfect | cats *= cat* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **offer** | past | monkey | a crystal goblet | party |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent he=Goal goblet=Theme |
| 6 | **contain** | must · perfect · passive |  | a crystal goblet |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **swallow** | past · perfect · passive |  | party |  |  |  | soon *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **forget** | past | party | everything |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **seek** | past · progressive | party | the little dog *not said here* |  |  |  | for the King | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent dog=Location for king=Theme |
| 10 | **think** *speech: other* | past | monkey *not said here* |  |  |  |  | happy *property* | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **is** | past | party |  |  |  |  | with the White Cat | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/23/52/)
- next →: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/23/54/)
- ↑ back to [The White Cat, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/23/)