---
title: Presently a splendid banquet was served, and the King and his daught… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Presently a splendid banquet was served, and the King and his daughters sat down to it, and as he always thought that there was some special meaning in everything, he said to the eldest: Who acts: King, special meaning. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Wonderful Sheep, part 1,
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Wonderful Sheep, part 1, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Presently a splendid banquet was served, and the King and his daughters sat down to it, and as he always thought that there was some special meaning in everything, he said to the eldest:

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** King, special meaning · **What happens:** serve, sit down, think, be, say · **To what, where:** splendid banquet, banquet · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (King, special meaning), 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:pg503:30:8
# text = Presently a splendid banquet was served, and the King and his daughters sat down to it, and as he always thought that there was some special meaning in everything, he said to the eldest:
1	Presently	presently	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	splendid	splendid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	banquet	banquet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	served	serve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	conj	_	_
14	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
15	down	down	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	23	advmod	_	_
23	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	26	expl	_	_
26	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	ccomp	_	_
27	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	29	det	_	_
28	special	special	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **serve** | past · passive |  | a splendid banquet |  |  |  | presently *property* | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute |
| 2 | **sit down** | past | the King and king's daughters |  | banquet |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | king |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **be** | past | some special meaning in everything |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | king |  |  |  |  | to the eldest | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to eld=Experiencer clause=Topic |

<!-- .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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