---
title: The Captain of the Guard was very much astonished when he heard this… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The Captain of the Guard was very much astonished when he heard this barbarous order, but he did not dare to contradict the King for fear of making him still more angry, or causing him to send someone else, so he answered that he would fetch the Princess and do as the King had said. Who acts: Captai
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Wonderful Sheep, part 1, sentence 32

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The Captain of the Guard was very much astonished when he heard this barbarous order, but he did not dare to contradict the King for fear of making him still more angry, or causing him to send someone else, so he answered that he would fetch the Princess and do as the King had said.

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**Who acts:** Captain, eldest, fear, King · **What happens:** be, hear, not dare, not contradict, make, cause · **To what, where:** barbarous order, King, someone, Princess · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Captain, eldest, fear, King), 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:pg503:30:32
# text = The Captain of the Guard was very much astonished when he heard this barbarous order, but he did not dare to contradict the King for fear of making him still more angry, or causing him to send someone else, so he answered that he would fetch the Princess and do as the King had said.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Captain	Captain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Guard	Guard	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	much	much	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	astonished	astonished	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
13	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	det	_	_
14	barbarous	barbarous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	dare	dare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	parataxis	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	contradict	contradict	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
28	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
29	making	make	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	27	acl	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	still	still	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	33	advmod	_	_
33	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	causing	cause	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	advcl	_	_
40	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	39	obj	_	_
41	else	else	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	so	so	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
46	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
48	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	fetch	fetch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	ccomp	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	Princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
53	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
54	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
57	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
58	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	49	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the Captain of the Guard |  |  |  |  | astonished *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | past | eldest *= eld* | this barbarous order |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer order=Stimulus |
| 3 | **not** **dare** | past · do-support | eldest *= eld* |  |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **contradict** | to-infinitive | eldest *= eld* *not said here* | the King |  |  |  | for fear | tree rules |
| 5 | **make** | gerund | fear *not said here* | king |  |  |  | angry *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset he=Product |
| 6 | **cause** | gerund | eldest *= eld* *not said here* | king |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition he=Patient |
| 7 | **send** | to-infinitive | eldest *= eld* *not said here* | someone |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent someone=Theme |
| 8 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | eldest *= eld* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **fetch** | would | eldest *= eld* | the Princess |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent princess=Theme |
| 10 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · perfect · do-support | the King |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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