--- title: Once upon a time--in the days when the fairies lived--there was a ki… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Once upon a time--in the days when the fairies lived--there was a king who had three daughters, who were all young, and clever, and beautiful; but the youngest of the three, who was called Miranda, was the prettiest and the most beloved. Who acts: fairies, king, three daughters, youngest. A sentence --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/30/1/) [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 Wonderful Sheep, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/30/) / 1 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Wonderful Sheep, part 1, sentence 1 Once upon a time--in the days when the fairies lived--there was a king who had three daughters, who were all young, and clever, and beautiful; but the youngest of the three, who was called Miranda, was the prettiest and the most beloved. **Who acts:** fairies, king, three daughters, youngest · **What happens:** live, have, be, call · **To what, where:** three daughters · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Wonderful Sheep, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fairies, king, three daughters, youngest), 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:pg503:30:1 # text = Once upon a time--in the days when the fairies lived--there was a king who had three daughters, who were all young, and clever, and beautiful; but the youngest of the three, who was called Miranda, was the prettiest and the most beloved. 1 Once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 15 advmod _ _ 2 upon upon ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 5 -- -- PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 in in ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 days day NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 appos _ _ 9 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 12 advmod _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 fairies fairy NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 nsubj _ _ 12 lived live VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 -- -- PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 14 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 15 expl _ _ 15 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 cop _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nsubj _ _ 18 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 19 nsubj _ _ 19 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 acl:relcl _ _ 20 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 21 nummod _ _ 21 daughters daughter NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 23 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 26 nsubj _ _ 24 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 cop _ _ 25 all all ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 26 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 29 clever clever ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 32 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 33 ; ; PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 34 but but CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 youngest young ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 48 nsubj _ _ 37 of of ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 36 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 41 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 43 nsubj:pass _ _ 42 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 aux:pass _ _ 43 called call VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 36 parataxis _ _ 44 Miranda Miranda PROPN NNP Number=Sing 43 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 46 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 cop _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 prettiest pretty ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 0 root _ _ 49 and and CCONJ CC _ 52 cc _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 52 det _ _ 51 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 52 advmod _ _ 52 beloved beloved ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 48 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 48 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **live** | past | the fairies | | | | | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **have** | past | a king | three daughters | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Patient | | 3 | **is** | past | three daughters | | | | | all, young *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **be** | | three daughters *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **is** | past | | | | | | of the three; young *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **call** | past · passive | | | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | | 7 | **is** | past | the youngest | | | | | pretty *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **be** | | the youngest *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | 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: [The History of Whittington, 86](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/86/) - next →: [sentence 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/30/2/) - ↑ back to [The Wonderful Sheep, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/30/)