---
title: Such a handsome sheep, who was so polite and considerate, could hard… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Such a handsome sheep, who was so polite and considerate, could hardly fail to please, especially if one knew that he was really a king, and that his strange imprisonment would soon come to an end. Who acts: handsome sheep, one, King, strange imprisonment. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andr
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Wonderful Sheep, part 2, sentence 57

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Such a handsome sheep, who was so polite and considerate, could hardly fail to please, especially if one knew that he was really a king, and that his strange imprisonment would soon come to an end.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** handsome sheep, one, King, strange imprisonment · **What happens:** be, fail, know, come, imprison · **To what, where:** king, end

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Wonderful Sheep, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (handsome sheep, one, King, strange imprisonment), 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:pg503:31:57
# text = Such a handsome sheep, who was so polite and considerate, could hardly fail to please, especially if one knew that he was really a king, and that his strange imprisonment would soon come to an end.
1	Such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	4	det:predet	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	handsome	handsome	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	polite	polite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	considerate	considerate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	fail	fail	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	please	please	INTJ	UH	_	15	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
20	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	nsubj	_	_
22	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
26	really	really	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
33	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	imprisonment	imprisonment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj	_	_
35	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	37	advmod	_	_
37	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
38	to	to	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | such handsome sheep |  |  |  |  | polite *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | such handsome sheep *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fail** | could |  |  |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **know** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | one |  |  |  |  | especially *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is a** | past | King | a king |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **come** | would | King's strange imprisonment |  |  |  | to a end | soon *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to end=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **imprison** |  | King |  |  |  |  |  | nom imprisonment «act transitive»: poss=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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