---
title: He understood me very well, and, descending from the stage, commande… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He understood me very well, and, descending from the stage, commanded that several ladders should be set against my sides, on which more than a hundred of the inhabitants mounted, and walked toward my mouth with baskets full of food, which had been sent by the King’s orders when he first received ti
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter I, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He understood me very well, and, descending from the stage, commanded that several ladders should be set against my sides, on which more than a hundred of the inhabitants mounted, and walked toward my mouth with baskets full of food, which had been sent by the King’s orders when he first received tidings of me.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** person, inhabitants, orders, King · **What happens:** understand, descend, command, set, mount, walk · **To what, where:** me, stage, several ladders, sides, mouth, food · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (person, inhabitants, orders, King), 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:pg503:43:38
# text = He understood me very well, and, descending from the stage, commanded that several ladders should be set against my sides, on which more than a hundred of the inhabitants mounted, and walked toward my mouth with baskets full of food, which had been sent by the King’s orders when he first received tidings of me.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	descending	descend	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	stage	stage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	commanded	command	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
16	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	ladders	ladder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	advcl	_	_
21	against	against	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	sides	side	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	obl	_	_
27	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV	30	advmod	_	_
28	than	than	ADP	IN	_	27	fixed	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	inhabitants	inhabitant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nsubj	_	_
34	mounted	mount	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
38	toward	toward	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	baskets	basket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl	_	_
43	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
47	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	50	nsubj:pass	_	_
48	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
49	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	50	aux:pass	_	_
50	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	45	acl:relcl	_	_
51	by	by	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	55	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	’s	's	PART	POS	_	53	case	_	_
55	orders	order	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obl	_	_
56	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	59	advmod	_	_
57	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj	_	_
58	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	59	advmod	_	_
59	received	receive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	advcl	_	_
60	tidings	tiding	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	obj	_	_
61	of	of	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
62	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	60	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | past | person | me |  |  |  | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer i=Stimulus |
| 2 | **descend** | gerund |  |  |  | the stage |  |  | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from stage=Location |
| 3 | **command** | past | person *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.predicate»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **set** | should · passive |  | several ladders |  | my sides |  | a hundred *obl* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme against side=Destination |
| 5 | **mount** | past | the inhabitants |  |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **walk** | past |  |  |  | my mouth |  | with baskets | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme toward mouth=Trajectory |
| 7 | **send** | past · perfect · passive | the King's orders | food |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 8 | **receive** | past | person | tidings of me |  |  |  | first *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tiding=Theme |
| 9 | **order** |  | the King |  |  |  |  |  | nom order «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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- ↑ back to [Chapter I](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/43/)