---
title: He told me also that by the laws of the nation I must be searched by… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He told me also that by the laws of the nation I must be searched by two of his officers, and that as this could not be done without my help, he trusted them in my hands, and whatever they took from me should be returned when I left the country. Who acts: six, officers, I, my. A sentence of «The Blu
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter II, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He told me also that by the laws of the nation I must be searched by two of his officers, and that as this could not be done without my help, he trusted them in my hands, and whatever they took from me should be returned when I left the country.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** six, officers, I, my · **What happens:** tell, search, not do, trust, take, return · **To what, where:** me, I, that, officers, hands, whatever · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter II. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (six, officers, I, my), 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:pg503:44:11
# text = He told me also that by the laws of the nation I must be searched by two of his officers, and that as this could not be done without my help, he trusted them in my hands, and whatever they took from me should be returned when I left the country.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	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	iobj	_	_
4	also	also	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	that	that	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	laws	law	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	nation	nation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	searched	search	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl:relcl	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	officers	officer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
23	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	nsubj	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	nmod	_	_
26	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
28	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
30	without	without	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	trusted	trust	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
36	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	49	obl	_	_
43	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	acl:relcl	_	_
45	from	from	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	44	obl	_	_
47	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
48	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	aux:pass	_	_
49	returned	return	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	conj	_	_
50	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	52	advmod	_	_
51	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
52	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	ccomp	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | six |  | me |  |  | by the laws of the nation; that *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 2 | **search** | must · passive |  | I |  |  |  | by two of six's officers | vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Location |
| 3 | **not** **do** | could · passive |  | that |  |  |  | without my help | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 4 | **trust** | past | six | officers *= officer* |  | my hands |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 5 | **take** | past | officers *= officer* |  |  |  |  | from me | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent from i=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **return** | should · passive | six *not said here* | whatever |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **leave** | past | I | the country |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent country=Theme |
| 8 | **help** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom help «act 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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