---
title: Truly the man would have had no objection to be rich, but he thought… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Truly the man would have had no objection to be rich, but he thought to himself: “I must first ask my daughter about this,” so he went in and told them that there was a great white bear outside who had faithfully promised to make them all rich if he might but have the youngest daughter. Who acts: ma
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Truly the man would have had no objection to be rich, but he thought to himself: “I must first ask my daughter about this,” so he went in and told them that there was a great white bear outside who had faithfully promised to make them all rich if he might but have the youngest daughter.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, great white bear · **What happens:** have, be, think, ask, go in, tell · **To what, where:** objection, man, daughter, walls, great white bear, youngest daughter · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, great white bear), 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:pg503:4:8
# text = Truly the man would have had no objection to be rich, but he thought to himself: “I must first ask my daughter about this,” so he went in and told them that there was a great white bear outside who had faithfully promised to make them all rich if he might but have the youngest daughter.
1	Truly	truly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	aux	_	_
6	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
8	objection	objection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	cop	_	_
11	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	23	advmod	_	_
23	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	about	about	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
30	so	so	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
33	in	in	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
36	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	iobj	_	_
37	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
38	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	39	expl	_	_
39	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	ccomp	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
41	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
42	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
44	outside	outside	ADP	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
45	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	48	nsubj:pass	_	_
46	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
47	faithfully	faithfully	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	promised	promise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	43	acl:relcl	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	_
51	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obj	_	_
52	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	53	det	_	_
53	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	xcomp	_	_
54	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
55	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
56	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	advcl	_	_
57	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	50	conj	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
60	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	61	amod	_	_
61	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | would · perfect | the man | no objection |  |  |  | truly *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent objection=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | the man *not said here* | no objection *not said here* |  |  |  | rich *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | man |  | man |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | must | man |  | my daughter |  |  | about this; first *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent daughter=Recipient about this=Topic |
| 5 | **go in** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | man *not said here* |  | walls *= wall* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **be** | past | a great white bear |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past · perfect · passive |  | a great white bear |  |  |  | faithfully *property* | vn promise-37.13 «NP V NP that S»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 9 | **make** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | walls *= wall* |  |  |  | rich *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset they=Product |
| 10 | **have** | present |  | the youngest daughter |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Patient |

<!-- .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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