---
title: They would neither of them have him, and sent him backward and forwa… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They would neither of them have him, and sent him backward and forward from one another, not being able to bear the thoughts of marrying a man who had a blue beard, and what besides gave them disgust and aversion was his having already been married to several wives, and nobody ever knew what became 
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Blue Beard, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would neither of them have him, and sent him backward and forward from one another, not being able to bear the thoughts of marrying a man who had a blue beard, and what besides gave them disgust and aversion was his having already been married to several wives, and nobody ever knew what became of them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** beauties, thoughts, man, besides, nobody · **What happens:** have, send, not be, bear, marry, give · **To what, where:** One, thoughts, man, blue beard, beauties, disgust · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Blue Beard. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (beauties, thoughts, man, besides), 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:pg503:40:5
# text = They would neither of them have him, and sent him backward and forward from one another, not being able to bear the thoughts of marrying a man who had a blue beard, and what besides gave them disgust and aversion was his having already been married to several wives, and nobody ever knew what became of them.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	neither	neither	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
6	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	backward	backward	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	12	conj	_	_
15	from	from	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	obl	_	_
17	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
20	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	cop	_	_
21	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	bear	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	thoughts	thought	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
27	marrying	marry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	acl	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
31	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	acl:relcl	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	beard	beard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
37	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	39	obj	_	_
38	besides	beside	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj	_	_
39	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
40	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	disgust	disgust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	aversion	aversion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	conj	_	_
44	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	aux:pass	_	_
45	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj:pass	_	_
46	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	49	aux	_	_
47	already	already	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
48	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	49	aux:pass	_	_
49	married	marry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	ccomp	_	_
50	to	to	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	wives	wife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
55	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	57	nsubj	_	_
56	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	57	advmod	_	_
57	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	parataxis	_	_
58	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	59	nsubj	_	_
59	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	ccomp	_	_
60	of	of	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	obl	_	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 | beauties *= beauty* | One |  |  |  | neither *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 2 | **send** | past | beauties *= beauty* *not said here* | One |  |  |  | from one; backward *property* | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent he=Theme from one=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **not** **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **bear** | to-infinitive |  | the thoughts |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thought=Patient |
| 5 | **marry** | gerund | the thoughts *not said here* | a man |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient |
| 6 | **have** | past | a man | a blue beard |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent beard=Patient |
| 7 | **give** | past | besides | beauties *= beauty* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **marry** | past · perfect · passive |  | disgust and aversion |  |  |  | to several wives | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient to wife=Co-Patient |
| 9 | **know** | past | nobody |  |  |  | ever |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 10 | **become** | past |  |  |  |  |  | of beauties *= beauty* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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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