---
title: The three Princes were greatly surprised by their father’s sudden fa… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The three Princes were greatly surprised by their father’s sudden fancy for a little dog, but as it gave the two younger ones a chance they would not otherwise have had of being king, and as the eldest was too polite to make any objection, they accepted the commission with pleasure. Who acts: sudden
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The White Cat, part 1, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The three Princes were greatly surprised by their father’s sudden fancy for a little dog, but as it gave the two younger ones a chance they would not otherwise have had of being king, and as the eldest was too polite to make any objection, they accepted the commission with pleasure.

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**Who acts:** sudden fancy, dog, Princes, eldest, father · **What happens:** surprise, give, not have, be, make, accept · **To what, where:** three Princes, two younger ones, chance, objection, commission

<!-- .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 (sudden fancy, dog, Princes, eldest), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg503:23:7
# text = The three Princes were greatly surprised by their father’s sudden fancy for a little dog, but as it gave the two younger ones a chance they would not otherwise have had of being king, and as the eldest was too polite to make any objection, they accepted the commission with pleasure.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	Princes	prince	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
5	greatly	greatly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	surprised	surprise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’s	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	sudden	sudden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	fancy	fancy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
23	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	nummod	_	_
24	younger	young	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	25	amod	_	_
25	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
29	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
31	otherwise	otherwise	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
32	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux	_	_
33	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	acl:relcl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	36	cop	_	_
36	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
39	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
41	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	44	nsubj	_	_
42	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
43	too	too	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	polite	polite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	advcl	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	csubj	_	_
47	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	48	det	_	_
48	objection	objection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
50	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
51	accepted	accept	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	commission	commission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	_
54	with	with	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	pleasure	pleasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **surprise** | past · passive | Princes's father's sudden fancy for a little dog | the three Princes |  |  |  | greatly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **give** | past | dog | the two younger ones |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent one=Recipient chance=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **have** | would · perfect | Princes *= prince* | a chance *not said here* |  |  |  | otherwise *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chance=Patient |
| 4 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | of king | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | eldest |  |  |  |  | polite *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | any objection |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset objection=Product |
| 7 | **accept** | past | Princes *= prince* | the commission |  |  |  | with pleasure | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent commission=Theme |
| 8 | **fancy** |  | Princes's father |  |  |  |  | for a little dog | nom fancy «cognition transitive»: poss=agent for=obl |

<!-- .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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