---
title: He happened to one day be with some people who were speaking of the… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He happened to one day be with some people who were speaking of the ambassador’s return and saying that his going to the Princess had not done much good, when Charming said rashly: Who acts: ambassador, people, Charming. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Pretty Goldilo
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Story of Pretty Goldilocks, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He happened to one day be with some people who were speaking of the ambassador’s return and saying that his going to the Princess had not done much good, when Charming said rashly:

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** ambassador, people, Charming · **What happens:** happen, be, speak, say, go, not do · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Pretty Goldilocks. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ambassador, people, Charming), 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:pg503:28:15
# text = He happened to one day be with some people who were speaking of the ambassador’s return and saying that his going to the Princess had not done much good, when Charming said rashly:
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	acl:relcl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	ambassador	ambassador	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	’s	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	conj	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Gender=Masc|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	ccomp	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
28	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
29	much	much	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	34	advmod	_	_
33	Charming	Charming	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
35	rashly	rashly	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | ambassador |  |  |  | day |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **be** | infinitive | ambassador *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with some people | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · progressive | some people |  |  |  |  | of the ambassador's return | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | some people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **go** | gerund | ambassador |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **do** | past · perfect | ambassador *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the Princess; good *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Charming |  |  |  |  | rashly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **return** |  | the ambassador |  |  |  |  |  | nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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