--- title: “This signifies nothing,” says Blue Beard; “you must die”; then, tak… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: “This signifies nothing,” says Blue Beard; “you must die”; then, taking hold of her hair with one hand, and lifting up the sword with the other, he was going to take off her head. Who acts: This, Blue Beard, you, beard. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Blue Beard, with its depende --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/40/69/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Blue Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/) / [Blue Beard](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/40/) / 69 # The Blue Fairy Book, Blue Beard, sentence 69 “This signifies nothing,” says Blue Beard; “you must die”; then, taking hold of her hair with one hand, and lifting up the sword with the other, he was going to take off her head. **Who acts:** This, Blue Beard, you, beard · **What happens:** signify, say, die, take, lift up, go · **To what, where:** nothing, hold, sword, head, hair · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (This, Blue Beard, you, beard), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg503:40:69 # text = “This signifies nothing,” says Blue Beard; “you must die”; then, taking hold of her hair with one hand, and lifting up the sword with the other, he was going to take off her head. 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 This this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 3 nsubj _ _ 3 signifies signify VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 3 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 ” " PUNCT '' _ 7 punct _ _ 7 says say VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 8 Blue blue ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 Beard Beard PROPN NNP Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ; ; PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 11 “ " PUNCT `` _ 14 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 13 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 14 aux _ _ 14 die die VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 7 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 15 ” " PUNCT '' _ 14 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 ; ; PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 17 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 3 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 19 taking take VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 3 advcl _ _ 20 hold hold NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obj _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 hair hair NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nmod _ _ 24 with with ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 26 nummod _ _ 26 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 29 lifting lift VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 conj _ _ 30 up up ADP RP _ 29 compound:prt _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obj _ _ 33 with with ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 37 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 38 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 39 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 conj _ _ 40 to to PART TO _ 41 mark _ _ 41 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 39 xcomp _ _ 42 off off ADP RP _ 41 compound:prt _ _ 43 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 44 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **signify** *in a quote* | present | This | nothing | | | then | | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot nothing=Theme | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | Blue Beard | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **die** *in a quote* | must | you | | | | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 4 | **take** | gerund | This *not said here* | hold of happiness's hair | | | | with one hand | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Theme | | 5 | **lift up** | gerund | This *not said here* | the sword | | | | with the other | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme | | 6 | **go** | past · progressive | beard | | | | | | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 7 | **take off** | to-infinitive | beard *not said here* | happiness's head | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme | | 8 | **hold** | | | happiness's hair | | | | | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/40/68/) - next →: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/40/70/) - ↑ back to [Blue Beard](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/40/)