---
title: Take this walnut, but do not open it until you are before him, then… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Take this walnut, but do not open it until you are before him, then you will find in it the piece of stuff you asked me for.” Who acts: you, piece. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Cat, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The White Cat, part 2, sentence 14

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Take this walnut, but do not open it until you are before him, then you will find in it the piece of stuff you asked me for.”

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**Who acts:** you, piece · **What happens:** take, not open, be, find, ask · **To what, where:** walnut, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Cat, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, piece), 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:pg503:24:14
# text = Take this walnut, but do not open it until you are before him, then you will find in it the piece of stuff you asked me for.”
1	Take	take	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	walnut	walnut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	open	open	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	before	before	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	stuff	stuff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
26	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	ccomp	_	_
28	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	iobj	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | imperative | you *not said here* | this walnut |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent walnut=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **open** | infinitive · do-support |  | walnut |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location it=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | present | you |  |  |  | before King |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **find** | future | you |  |  | walnut | then |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the piece of stuff |  | me |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |

<!-- .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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