---
title: I offered to lie down that he might the more conveniently reach my e… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: I offered to lie down that he might the more conveniently reach my ear; but he chose rather to let me hold him in my hand during our conversation. Who acts: I, Reldresal, me, our. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter III, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter III, sentence 39

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I offered to lie down that he might the more conveniently reach my ear; but he chose rather to let me hold him in my hand during our conversation.

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**Who acts:** I, Reldresal, me, our · **What happens:** offer, lie down, reach, choose, let, hold · **To what, where:** ear, me, Reldresal, hand

<!-- .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 (I, Reldresal, me, our), 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:pg503:45:39
# text = I offered to lie down that he might the more conveniently reach my ear; but he chose rather to let me hold him in my hand during our conversation.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	offered	offer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	lie	lie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	down	down	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
8	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	11	advmod	_	_
11	conveniently	conveniently	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
13	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
19	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	advcl	_	_
22	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
28	during	during	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	conversation	conversation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **offer** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **lie down** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **reach** | might | Reldresal | my ear |  |  |  | conveniently *property* | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent ear=Theme |
| 4 | **choose** | past | Reldresal |  |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **let** | to-infinitive | Reldresal *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **hold** | infinitive | me *not said here* | Reldresal |  | my hand | during our conversation |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent he=Theme in hand=Location |
| 7 | **converse** |  | our |  |  |  |  |  | nom conversation «communication intransitive»: 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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