--- title: Meanwhile the servants were putting the supper on the table, and the… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Meanwhile the servants were putting the supper on the table, and the prince was much amused to hear the Fairy who asked them a thousand questions simply for the pleasure of hearing herself speak; especially he noticed one maid who, no matter what was being said, always contrived to praise her mistre --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/3/69/) [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/) / 69 # The Blue Fairy Book, Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess, sentence 69 Meanwhile the servants were putting the supper on the table, and the prince was much amused to hear the Fairy who asked them a thousand questions simply for the pleasure of hearing herself speak; especially he noticed one maid who, no matter what was being said, always contrived to praise her mistress’s wisdom. **Who acts:** servants, prince, Fairy, pleasure · **What happens:** put, be, hear, ask, speak, notice · **To what, where:** supper, table, Fairy, thousand questions, servants, one maid · **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 (servants, prince, Fairy, pleasure), 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:pg503:3:69 # text = Meanwhile the servants were putting the supper on the table, and the prince was much amused to hear the Fairy who asked them a thousand questions simply for the pleasure of hearing herself speak; especially he noticed one maid who, no matter what was being said, always contrived to praise her mistress’s wisdom. 1 Meanwhile meanwhile ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 servants servant NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 nsubj _ _ 4 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 5 putting put VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 supper supper NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 8 on on ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 table table NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 prince prince NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 15 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 16 much much ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 amused amused ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 parataxis _ _ 18 to to PART TO _ 19 mark _ _ 19 hear hear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 advcl _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 Fairy fairy NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obj _ _ 22 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 23 nsubj _ _ 23 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 acl:relcl _ _ 24 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 obj _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 26 thousand thousand NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 27 nummod _ _ 27 questions question NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 obj _ _ 28 simply simply ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 29 for for ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 pleasure pleasure NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 ccomp _ _ 32 of of SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 33 hearing hear VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 31 acl _ _ 34 herself herself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 35 nsubj _ _ 35 speak speak VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 36 ; ; PUNCT : _ 39 punct _ _ 37 especially especially ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 38 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 39 noticed notice VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 advcl _ _ 40 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 41 nummod _ _ 41 maid maid NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ _ 42 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 41 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 44 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 45 det _ _ 45 matter matter NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 appos _ _ 46 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 49 obj _ _ 47 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 49 aux:pass _ _ 48 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 49 aux:pass _ _ 49 said say VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 45 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 52 punct _ _ 51 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 52 advmod _ _ 52 contrived contrive VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 49 conj _ _ 53 to to PART TO _ 54 mark _ _ 54 praise praise VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 52 xcomp _ _ 55 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 56 nmod:poss _ _ 56 mistress mistress NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 57 ’s 's PART POS _ 56 case _ _ 58 wisdom wisdom NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 59 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **put** | past · progressive | the servants | the supper | | the table | | meanwhile *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent supper=Theme on table=Destination | | 2 | **is** | past | the prince | | | | | amused *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **hear** | to-infinitive | the prince *not said here* | the Fairy | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer fairy=Stimulus | | 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the Fairy | a thousand questions | servants *= servant* | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **hear** | gerund | the pleasure *not said here* | | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 6 | **speak** *speech: other* | infinitive | fairy | | | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **notice** | past | Prince | one maid | | | | especially *property* | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer maid=Stimulus | | 8 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · passive | | no matter | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: what=Topic | | 9 | **contrive** | participle | | | | | | always *property* | tree rules | | 10 | **praise** | to-infinitive | | fairy's mistress's wisdom | | | | | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wisdom=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 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/3/68/) - next →: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/3/70/) - ↑ back to [Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/3/)