---
title: The parallel sticks secured them and their horses from falling off t… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The parallel sticks secured them and their horses from falling off the stage, and the Emperor was so much delighted that he ordered this entertainment to be repeated several days, and persuaded the Empress herself to let me hold her in her chair within two yards of the stage, whence she could view t
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter III, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The parallel sticks secured them and their horses from falling off the stage, and the Emperor was so much delighted that he ordered this entertainment to be repeated several days, and persuaded the Empress herself to let me hold her in her chair within two yards of the stage, whence she could view the whole performance.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** parallel sticks, Emperor, majesty, me, Empress · **What happens:** secure, fall off, be, order, repeat, persuade · **To what, where:** swords, stage, entertainment, Empress, me, chair

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter III. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (parallel sticks, Emperor, majesty, 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:pg503:45:11
# text = The parallel sticks secured them and their horses from falling off the stage, and the Emperor was so much delighted that he ordered this entertainment to be repeated several days, and persuaded the Empress herself to let me hold her in her chair within two yards of the stage, whence she could view the whole performance.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	parallel	parallel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	secured	secure	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
9	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
10	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
11	off	off	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	stage	stage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Emperor	Emperor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	much	much	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	delighted	delighted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	ordered	order	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
25	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	entertainment	entertainment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
28	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	repeated	repeat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	conj	_	_
30	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	persuaded	persuade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	Empress	Empress	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	34	obl	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	advcl	_	_
40	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	xcomp	_	_
42	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	chair	chair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
46	within	within	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	48	nummod	_	_
48	yards	yard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obl	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	stage	stage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
53	whence	whence	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	56	advmod	_	_
54	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
55	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
56	view	view	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	conj	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	performance	performance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **secure** | past | the parallel sticks | swords *= sword* |  |  |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition they=Theme |
| 2 | **fall off** | gerund | the parallel sticks *not said here* | the stage |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient stage=Extent |
| 3 | **is** | past | the Emperor |  |  |  |  | delighted *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **order** | past | majesty | this entertainment |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent entertainment=Theme |
| 5 | **repeat** | to-infinitive · passive | majesty *not said here* |  |  |  | day |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V» |
| 6 | **persuade** | past | the parallel sticks *not said here* | the Empress |  |  |  | Empress *obl* | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent empress=Patient |
| 7 | **let** | to-infinitive | the parallel sticks *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **hold** | infinitive | me *not said here* | Empress |  | Empress's chair |  | within two yards of the stage | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent she=Theme in chair=Location |
| 9 | **view** | could | Empress | the whole performance |  |  |  | whence *property* | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer performance=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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