---
title: “I could not have done anything that would have vexed my master so m… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “I could not have done anything that would have vexed my master so much, even for a kingdom, or to please you, though I think you are as beautiful as the sun.” Who acts: I, you. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Pretty Goldilocks, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Story of Pretty Goldilocks, sentence 174

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I could not have done anything that would have vexed my master so much, even for a kingdom, or to please you, though I think you are as beautiful as the sun.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, you · **What happens:** not do, vex, please, think, be · **To what, where:** anything, master, you · **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 (I, you), 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:pg503:28:174
# text = “I could not have done anything that would have vexed my master so much, even for a kingdom, or to please you, though I think you are as beautiful as the sun.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux	_	_
6	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	obj	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux	_	_
11	vexed	vex	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	acl:relcl	_	_
12	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	much	much	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	even	even	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	kingdom	kingdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	please	please	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
25	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	parataxis	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
31	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
32	as	as	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	ccomp	_	_
34	as	as	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	sun.	sun.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **do** *in a quote* | could · perfect | I | anything |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Eventuality |
| 2 | **vex** *in a quote* | would · perfect |  | my master |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Stimulus that=Experiencer master=Result |
| 3 | **please** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | you |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus you=Experiencer |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  | as the sun.; beautiful *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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