--- title: “For,” he said, “however flourishing we may seem to foreigners, we a… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: “For,” he said, “however flourishing we may seem to foreigners, we are in danger of an invasion from the island of Blefuscu, which is the other great empire of the universe, almost as large and as powerful as this of his Majesty. Who acts: Reldresal, we, island. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» b --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/41/) [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/) / 41 # The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter III, sentence 41 “For,” he said, “however flourishing we may seem to foreigners, we are in danger of an invasion from the island of Blefuscu, which is the other great empire of the universe, almost as large and as powerful as this of his Majesty. **Who acts:** Reldresal, we, island · **What happens:** say, flourish, seem, be · **To what, where:** island, danger, other great empire · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Reldresal, we, island), 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:pg503:45:41 # text = “For,” he said, “however flourishing we may seem to foreigners, we are in danger of an invasion from the island of Blefuscu, which is the other great empire of the universe, almost as large and as powerful as this of his Majesty. 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 For for SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 4 ” " PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ 5 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 “ " PUNCT `` _ 10 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 9 however however ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ _ 10 flourishing flourish VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 6 advcl _ _ 11 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 12 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 13 seem seem VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 ccomp _ _ 14 to to ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 foreigners foreigner NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 17 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 18 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 20 cop _ _ 19 in in ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 danger danger NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obl _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 invasion invasion NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nmod _ _ 24 from from ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 island island NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obl _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 Blefuscu Blefuscu PROPN NNP Number=Sing 26 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 30 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 35 nsubj _ _ 31 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 35 cop _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 33 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ _ 34 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ _ 35 empire empire NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 conj _ _ 36 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 universe universe NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 40 almost almost ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ _ 41 as as ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 advcl _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 44 as as ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 45 powerful powerful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 conj _ _ 46 as as ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 47 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 45 obl _ _ 48 of of ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 49 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 50 nmod:poss _ _ 50 Majesty Majesty PROPN NNP Number=Sing 47 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Reldresal | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **flourish** *in a quote* | gerund | Reldresal *not said here* | | | the island of Blefuscu and the other great empire | | however *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **seem** *in a quote* | may | we | | | | | to foreigners | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | we | | | danger | | of a invasion | tree rules | | 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | the island of Blefuscu and the other great empire | the other great empire | | | | of the universe | tree rules | 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 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/40/) - next →: [sentence 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/42/) - ↑ back to [Chapter III](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/)