--- title: I was telling you that I was your father’s friend; he often came to… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: I was telling you that I was your father’s friend; he often came to see me in the old times, and you must know that I was very pretty in those days; at least, he used to say so. Who acts: I, friend, you. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/3/47/) [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/) / [Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Pr…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/3/) / 47 # The Blue Fairy Book, Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess, sentence 47 I was telling you that I was your father’s friend; he often came to see me in the old times, and you must know that I was very pretty in those days; at least, he used to say so. **Who acts:** I, friend, you · **What happens:** tell, be, come, see, know, use · **To what, where:** you, your, me, least · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, friend, you), 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:pg503:3:47 # text = I was telling you that I was your father’s friend; he often came to see me in the old times, and you must know that I was very pretty in those days; at least, he used to say so. 1 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 telling tell VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 4 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 3 iobj _ _ 5 that that SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 6 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 8 your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ’s 's PART POS _ 9 case _ _ 11 friend friend NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 ; ; PUNCT : _ 15 punct _ _ 13 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 14 often often ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 15 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 17 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 xcomp _ _ 18 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 17 obj _ _ 19 in in ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 times time NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 25 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 26 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 conj _ _ 28 that that SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 29 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 30 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 cop _ _ 31 very very ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 pretty pretty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 ccomp _ _ 33 in in ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 those that DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 35 det _ _ 35 days day NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 ; ; PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 37 at at ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 least least ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 40 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 41 used use VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 conj _ _ 42 to to PART TO _ 43 mark _ _ 43 say say VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 41 xcomp _ _ 44 so so ADV RB _ 43 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · progressive | I | | you | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient | | 2 | **is a** | past | I | your | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **come** | past | friend | | | | | often *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **see** | to-infinitive | friend *not said here* | me | | | time | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer i=Stimulus | | 5 | **know** | must | you | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **is** | past | I | | | | day | pretty *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **use** | past | friend | | | least | | | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 8 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | friend *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=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 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/3/46/) - next →: [sentence 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/3/48/) - ↑ back to [Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/3/)