--- title: After they were read I was requested to swear to perform them in the… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: After they were read I was requested to swear to perform them in the method prescribed by their laws, which was to hold my right foot in my left hand, and to place the middle finger of my right hand on the crown of my head, and my thumb on the top of my right ear. Who acts: I, laws. A sentence of «T --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/18/) [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 III](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/) / 18 # The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter III, sentence 18 After they were read I was requested to swear to perform them in the method prescribed by their laws, which was to hold my right foot in my left hand, and to place the middle finger of my right hand on the crown of my head, and my thumb on the top of my right ear. **Who acts:** I, laws · **What happens:** read, be, swear, perform, prescribe, crown · **To what, where:** conditions, method, left hand, head 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 (I, laws), 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:pg503:45:18 # text = After they were read I was requested to swear to perform them in the method prescribed by their laws, which was to hold my right foot in my left hand, and to place the middle finger of my right hand on the crown of my head, and my thumb on the top of my right ear. 1 After after SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux:pass _ _ 4 read read VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 5 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 6 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 cop _ _ 7 requested request VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 conj _ _ 8 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 9 swear swear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 7 xcomp _ _ 10 to to PART TO _ 11 mark _ _ 11 perform perform VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 xcomp _ _ 12 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 obj _ _ 13 in in ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 method method NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ _ 16 prescribed prescribe VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 15 acl _ _ 17 by by ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 19 nmod:poss _ _ 19 laws law NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 21 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 24 nsubj _ _ 22 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 cop _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 24 hold hold VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 19 acl:relcl _ _ 25 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 26 right right ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 foot foot NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 28 in in ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 31 nmod:poss _ _ 30 left left ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 34 to to PART TO _ 35 mark _ _ 35 place place NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 parataxis _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 37 middle middle ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 finger finger NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ _ 39 of of ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 40 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 41 right right ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nmod _ _ 43 on on ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 crown crown NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 nmod _ _ 46 of of ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 48 nmod:poss _ _ 48 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 49 , , PUNCT , _ 52 punct _ _ 50 and and CCONJ CC _ 52 cc _ _ 51 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 52 nmod:poss _ _ 52 thumb thumb NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 conj _ _ 53 on on ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 54 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 55 top top NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 nmod _ _ 56 of of ADP IN _ 59 case _ _ 57 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 59 nmod:poss _ _ 58 right right ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 59 amod _ _ 59 ear ear NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 60 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **read** | past · passive | | conditions *= condition* | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic | | 2 | **is** | past | I | | | | | request *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **swear** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | | | | | | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 4 | **perform** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | conditions *= condition* | | the method | | | vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | | 5 | **prescribe** | participle | | the method *not said here* | | | | by conditions's laws | tree rules | | 6 | **is** | past | conditions's laws | | | my left hand | | hold *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **crown** | | | my head | | | | | nom crown «communication transitive»: of=patient | 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 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/17/) - next →: [sentence 19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/19/) - ↑ back to [Chapter III](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/)