--- title: At first the Queen was afraid to tell him, but when, as soon as they… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: At first the Queen was afraid to tell him, but when, as soon as they reached the palace, five frightful little dwarfs were sent by the fairies to fetch me, she was obliged to confess what she had promised. Who acts: Queen, mules, fairies. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/24/84/) [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/) / 84 # The Blue Fairy Book, The White Cat, part 2, sentence 84 At first the Queen was afraid to tell him, but when, as soon as they reached the palace, five frightful little dwarfs were sent by the fairies to fetch me, she was obliged to confess what she had promised. **Who acts:** Queen, mules, fairies · **What happens:** be, tell, reach, send, fetch, oblige · **To what, where:** King, palace, five frightful little dwarfs, me, Queen · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Queen, mules, fairies), 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:pg503:24:84 # text = At first the Queen was afraid to tell him, but when, as soon as they reached the palace, five frightful little dwarfs were sent by the fairies to fetch me, she was obliged to confess what she had promised. 1 At at SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 2 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 6 advmod _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 Queen Queen PROPN NNP Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 5 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 6 afraid afraid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 8 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 xcomp _ _ 9 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 iobj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 11 but but CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 12 when when SCONJ WRB _ 18 mark _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 14 as as ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 15 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 18 advmod _ _ 16 as as SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 17 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 18 reached reach VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 advcl _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 palace palace NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 22 five five NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 25 nummod _ _ 23 frightful frightful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 24 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 dwarfs dwarf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nsubj:pass _ _ 26 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux:pass _ _ 27 sent send VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 conj _ _ 28 by by ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 fairies fairy NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 obl _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 32 fetch fetch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 advcl _ _ 33 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 32 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 35 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 36 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 aux:pass _ _ 37 obliged oblige VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 conj _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 confess confess VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 xcomp _ _ 40 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 43 obj _ _ 41 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 42 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 aux _ _ 43 promised promise VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 39 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the Queen | | | | | afraid, first *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the Queen *not said here* | | King | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 3 | **reach** | past | mules *= mule* | the palace | | | | soon *property* | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent palace=Theme | | 4 | **send** | past · passive | the fairies | five frightful little dwarfs | | | | | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme | | 5 | **fetch** | to-infinitive | the fairies *not said here* | me | | | | | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme | | 6 | **oblige** | past · passive | | Queen | | | | | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result | | 7 | **confess** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 8 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past · perfect | Queen | | | | | | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent what=Theme | 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 83](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/24/83/) - next →: [sentence 85](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/24/85/) - ↑ back to [The White Cat, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/24/)