---
title: The faithful servant pondered long how they were to set about the ma… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The faithful servant pondered long how they were to set about the matter, for it was said to be difficult even to get into the presence of the Princess. Who acts: faithful servant, leaves. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Trusty John, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Trusty John, sentence 31

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The faithful servant pondered long how they were to set about the matter, for it was said to be difficult even to get into the presence of the Princess.

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**Who acts:** faithful servant, leaves · **What happens:** ponder, set, say, be, get · **To what, where:** servant, presence · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (faithful servant, leaves), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg503:41:31
# text = The faithful servant pondered long how they were to set about the matter, for it was said to be difficult even to get into the presence of the Princess.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	faithful	faithful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	pondered	ponder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
6	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
11	about	about	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	cop	_	_
21	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	advcl	_	_
22	even	even	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	ccomp	_	_
25	into	into	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ponder** | past | the faithful servant |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **set** | past | leaves *= leaf* |  |  |  |  | about the matter | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent about matter=Destination |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | servant |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 4 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | difficult *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **get** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the presence of the Princess |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into presence=Destination |

<!-- .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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