--- title: The tears came into the Prince’s eyes as he begged her to ask him an… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The tears came into the Prince’s eyes as he begged her to ask him anything but that--to set him any task she pleased as a proof of his devotion, but to spare him the grief of killing his dear Pussy. Who acts: tears, son, grief. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Cat, part --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/24/53/) [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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/24/) / 53 # The Blue Fairy Book, The White Cat, part 2, sentence 53 The tears came into the Prince’s eyes as he begged her to ask him anything but that--to set him any task she pleased as a proof of his devotion, but to spare him the grief of killing his dear Pussy. **Who acts:** tears, son, grief · **What happens:** come, beg, ask, set, spare, kill · **To what, where:** eyes, Blanchette, anything, son, dear Pussy, devotion 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 (tears, son, grief), 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:pg503:24:53 # text = The tears came into the Prince’s eyes as he begged her to ask him anything but that--to set him any task she pleased as a proof of his devotion, but to spare him the grief of killing his dear Pussy. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 tears tear NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 nsubj _ _ 3 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 into into ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 Prince Prince PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 7 ’s 's PART POS _ 6 case _ _ 8 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obl _ _ 9 as as SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 begged beg VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 advcl _ _ 12 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 obj _ _ 13 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 14 ask ask VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 xcomp _ _ 15 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 obj _ _ 16 anything anything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 14 obj _ _ 17 but but CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 18 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 16 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 -- -- PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 20 to to PART TO _ 21 mark _ _ 21 set set VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 conj _ _ 22 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 obj _ _ 23 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 24 det _ _ 24 task task NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj _ _ 25 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 pleased pleased ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 parataxis _ _ 27 as as ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 proof proof NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ _ 30 of of ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 32 nmod:poss _ _ 32 devotion devotion NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 34 but but CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 spare spare VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 conj _ _ 37 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obj _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 grief grief NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ _ 40 of of SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 41 killing kill VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 39 acl _ _ 42 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 43 dear dear ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 Pussy pussy NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **come** | past | the tears | | | the Prince's eyes | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into eye=Initial\_Location | | 2 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | son | | Blanchette | | | | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | son *not said here* | anything | son | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **set** | to-infinitive | son *not said here* | son | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient he=Result | | 5 | **spare** | to-infinitive | the tears *not said here* | | son | | | | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent he=Recipient grief=Asset | | 6 | **kill** | gerund | the grief *not said here* | son's dear Pussy | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pussy=Theme | | 7 | **proof** | | | son's devotion | | | | | nom proof «cognition transitive»: of=patient | | 8 | **devote** | | son | | | | | | nom devotion «feeling transitive»: poss=agent | 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 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/24/52/) - next →: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/24/54/) - ↑ back to [The White Cat, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/24/)