--- title: I answered in few words, but in the most submissive manner; and, bei… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: I answered in few words, but in the most submissive manner; and, being almost famished with hunger, I could not help showing my impatience by putting my finger frequently to my mouth, to signify that I wanted food. Who acts: I. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter I, with its --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/43/37/) [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/) / [Chapter I](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/43/) / 37 # The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter I, sentence 37 I answered in few words, but in the most submissive manner; and, being almost famished with hunger, I could not help showing my impatience by putting my finger frequently to my mouth, to signify that I wanted food. **Who acts:** I · **What happens:** answer, famish, not help, show, put, signify · **To what, where:** few words, impatience, finger, food This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter I. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I), 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:pg503:43:37 # text = I answered in few words, but in the most submissive manner; and, being almost famished with hunger, I could not help showing my impatience by putting my finger frequently to my mouth, to signify that I wanted food. 1 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 answered answer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 in in ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 few few ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 7 but but CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 8 in in ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 10 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 11 advmod _ _ 11 submissive submissive ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 manner manner NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ; ; PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 16 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 18 aux:pass _ _ 17 almost almost ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 18 famished famish VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 parataxis _ _ 19 with with ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 hunger hunger NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 22 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 23 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 24 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 25 advmod _ _ 25 help help VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 18 parataxis _ _ 26 showing show VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 25 xcomp _ _ 27 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 28 nmod:poss _ _ 28 impatience impatience NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 29 by by SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 30 putting put VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 26 advcl _ _ 31 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 32 nmod:poss _ _ 32 finger finger NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ _ 33 frequently frequently ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 34 to to ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 mouth mouth NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 signify signify VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 25 conj _ _ 40 that that SCONJ IN _ 42 mark _ _ 41 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 42 wanted want VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 advcl _ _ 43 food food NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | I | | | few words | | | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **famish** | gerund · passive | | | | | | with hunger; almost *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **not** **help** | could | I | | | | | | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 4 | **show** *not said to happen* | gerund | I *not said here* | my impatience | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent impatience=Recipient | | 5 | **put** | gerund | I *not said here* | my finger | | | | to my mouth; frequently *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent finger=Goal | | 6 | **signify** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | | | | | | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot | | 7 | **want** | past | I | food | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot food=Theme | 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 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/43/36/) - next →: [sentence 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/43/38/) - ↑ back to [Chapter I](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/43/)