---
title: Then the King continued: “My love for her is so great that if all th… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the King continued: “My love for her is so great that if all the leaves on the trees had tongues they could not express it; my very life depends on my winning her. Who acts: King, love, leaves, life. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Trusty John, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Trusty John, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the King continued: “My love for her is so great that if all the leaves on the trees had tongues they could not express it; my very life depends on my winning her.

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**Who acts:** King, love, leaves, life, Princess, My · **What happens:** continue, be, have, not express, depend, win · **To what, where:** tongues, love, maid

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Trusty John. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, love, leaves, life), 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:pg503:41:29
# text = Then the King continued: “My love for her is so great that if all the leaves on the trees had tongues they could not express it; my very life depends on my winning her.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	continued	continue	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	love	love	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nmod	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
16	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	18	det:predet	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	_
22	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
23	tongues	tongue	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	express	express	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
31	very	very	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
33	depends	depend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
34	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
35	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	winning	win	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	advcl	_	_
37	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **continue** | past | the King |  |  |  | then |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | My love for maid |  |  |  |  | great *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past | all leaves on the trees | tongues |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tongue=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **express** *in a quote* | could | leaves *= leaf* | love |  |  |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 5 | **depend** *in a quote* | present | my life |  |  |  |  |  | vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **win** *in a quote* | gerund | the Princess *= princess* | maid |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Eventuality |
| 7 | **love** *in a quote* |  | My |  |  |  |  | for maid | nom love «feeling transitive»: poss=agent for=obl |

<!-- .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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