---
title: I desired the secretary to present my humble duty to the Emperor, an… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: I desired the secretary to present my humble duty to the Emperor, and to let him know that I was ready, at the risk of my life, to defend him against all invaders. Who acts: I, empire. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter III, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter III, sentence 49

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I desired the secretary to present my humble duty to the Emperor, and to let him know that I was ready, at the risk of my life, to defend him against all invaders.

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**Who acts:** I, empire · **What happens:** desire, present, let, know, be, defend · **To what, where:** secretary, humble duty, Emperor, empire, risk, life · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, empire), 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:pg503:45:49
# text = I desired the secretary to present my humble duty to the Emperor, and to let him know that I was ready, at the risk of my life, to defend him against all invaders.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	desired	desire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	secretary	secretary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	present	present	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
7	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	humble	humble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	duty	duty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	Emperor	Emperor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	risk	risk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	defend	defend	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	against	against	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	36	det	_	_
36	invaders	invader	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **desire** | past | I | the secretary |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **present** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | my humble duty | the Emperor |  |  |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent duty=Theme to emperor=Recipient |
| 3 | **let** | to-infinitive |  | empire |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **know** | infinitive | empire *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is** | past | I |  |  | the risk of my life |  | ready *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **defend** | to-infinitive |  |  | empire |  |  | against all invaders | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary against invader=Theme |
| 7 | **risk** |  |  | my life |  |  |  |  | nom risk «state transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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