---
title: Soon after this the merchant, who had a ship ready to sail, called f… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Soon after this the merchant, who had a ship ready to sail, called for his servants, as his custom was, in order that each of them might venture something to try their luck; and whatever they sent was to pay neither freight nor custom, for he thought justly that God Almighty would bless him the more
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/21/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 History of Whittington](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/) / 21

# The Blue Fairy Book, The History of Whittington, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Soon after this the merchant, who had a ship ready to sail, called for his servants, as his custom was, in order that each of them might venture something to try their luck; and whatever they sent was to pay neither freight nor custom, for he thought justly that God Almighty would bless him the more for his readiness to let the poor partake of his fortune.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** merchant, ship, custom, each, boy, Whittington · **What happens:** have, sail, call, be, venture, try · **To what, where:** ship, something, luck, Whittington, poor · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Whittington. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (merchant, ship, custom, each), 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:pg503:29:21
# text = Soon after this the merchant, who had a ship ready to sail, called for his servants, as his custom was, in order that each of them might venture something to try their luck; and whatever they sent was to pay neither freight nor custom, for he thought justly that God Almighty would bless him the more for his readiness to let the poor partake of his fortune.
1	Soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	after	after	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	1	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	sail	sail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
20	as	as	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
28	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	32	nsubj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nmod	_	_
31	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	venture	venture	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	acl	_	_
33	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	32	obj	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	acl	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	luck	luck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	45	advcl	_	_
41	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
42	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	acl:relcl	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
46	neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	47	det	_	_
47	freight	freight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	_
48	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	49	cc	_	_
49	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
51	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
53	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	parataxis	_	_
54	justly	justly	ADV	RB	_	59	advmod	_	_
55	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
56	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	59	nsubj	_	_
57	Almighty	Almighty	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	56	flat	_	_
58	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
59	bless	bless	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	ccomp	_	_
60	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	obj	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	59	advmod	_	_
63	for	for	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
64	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	65	nmod:poss	_	_
65	readiness	readiness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	_
66	to	to	PART	TO	_	67	mark	_	_
67	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	59	advcl	_	_
68	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	69	det	_	_
69	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	67	obj	_	_
70	partake	partake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	67	xcomp	_	_
71	of	of	ADP	IN	_	73	case	_	_
72	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	73	nmod:poss	_	_
73	fortune	fortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the merchant | a ship |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ship=Patient |
| 2 | **sail** | to-infinitive | a ship *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **call** | participle |  | a ship *not said here* |  |  |  | for Whittington's servants | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for servant=Recipient |
| 4 | **is** | past | Whittington's custom |  |  |  |  | as order | tree rules |
| 5 | **venture** | might | each | something |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent something=Topic |
| 6 | **try** | to-infinitive | each *not said here* | servants's luck |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent luck=Eventuality |
| 7 | **send** | past | boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **is** | past | the merchant *not said here* |  |  |  |  | pay *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Whittington |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 10 | **bless** | would | God | Whittington |  |  |  | for Whittington's readiness; justly *property* | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent he=Theme for readiness=Attribute |
| 11 | **let** | to-infinitive | God *not said here* | the poor |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 12 | **partake** | infinitive | the poor *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of Whittington's fortune | 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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/20/)
- next →: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/22/)
- ↑ back to [The History of Whittington](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/)