---
title: Near the great gate, through which I could easily creep, they fixed… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Near the great gate, through which I could easily creep, they fixed ninety-one chains, like those which hang to a lady’s watch, which were locked to my left leg with thirty-six padlocks; and when the workmen found it was impossible for me to break loose, they cut all the strings that bound me. Who a
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter I, sentence 65

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Near the great gate, through which I could easily creep, they fixed ninety-one chains, like those which hang to a lady’s watch, which were locked to my left leg with thirty-six padlocks; and when the workmen found it was impossible for me to break loose, they cut all the strings that bound me.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, officials, workmen, me, strings · **What happens:** creep, fix, hang, lock, find, be · **To what, where:** great gate, one chains, watch, strings, me

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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, officials, workmen, me), 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:pg503:43:65
# text = Near the great gate, through which I could easily creep, they fixed ninety-one chains, like those which hang to a lady’s watch, which were locked to my left leg with thirty-six padlocks; and when the workmen found it was impossible for me to break loose, they cut all the strings that bound me.
1	Near	near	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
6	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	obl	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	creep	creep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	fixed	fix	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
15	ninety	ninety	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	nummod	_	_
18	chains	chain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	like	like	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	14	conj	_	_
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
23	hang	hang	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	’s	's	PART	POS	_	26	case	_	_
28	watch	watch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	locked	lock	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	acl:relcl	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
35	left	left	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
37	with	with	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
38	thirty	thirty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	40	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	41	nummod	_	_
41	padlocks	padlock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
44	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	47	advmod	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	workmen	workman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nsubj	_	_
47	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	advcl	_	_
48	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	expl	_	_
49	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
50	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	xcomp	_	_
51	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
52	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	54	mark	_	_
54	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	advcl	_	_
55	loose	loose	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
57	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
58	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
59	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	61	det:predet	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	strings	string	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	obj	_	_
62	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	63	nsubj	_	_
63	bound	bound	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	61	acl:relcl	_	_
64	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	63	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **creep** | could | I |  |  | the great gate |  | easily *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme near gate=Trajectory |
| 2 | **fix** | past | officials *= official* | one chains |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent chain=Patient |
| 3 | **hang** | present |  |  |  |  |  | to a lady's watch | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **lock** | past · passive |  | a lady's watch |  |  |  | to my left leg with six padlocks | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient to leg=Co-Patient |
| 5 | **find** | past | the workmen |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | past | the workmen *not said here* |  |  |  |  | impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **break** | to-infinitive | me |  |  |  |  | loose *property* | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 8 | **cut** | past | officials *= official* | all strings |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset string=Product |
| 9 | **bound** | present | all strings | me |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location i=Theme |

<!-- .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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