--- title: I fastened my handkerchief to the nine sticks that stood erect, and… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: I fastened my handkerchief to the nine sticks that stood erect, and extended it on all sides till it was as tight as the top of a drum; and I desired the Emperor to let a troop of his best horse, twenty-four in number, come and exercise upon this plain. Who acts: I, nine sticks, handkerchief. A sent --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/8/) [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/) / 8 # The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter III, sentence 8 I fastened my handkerchief to the nine sticks that stood erect, and extended it on all sides till it was as tight as the top of a drum; and I desired the Emperor to let a troop of his best horse, twenty-four in number, come and exercise upon this plain. **Who acts:** I, nine sticks, handkerchief · **What happens:** fasten, stand, extend, be, desire, let · **To what, where:** handkerchief, sides, Emperor, troop 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, nine sticks, handkerchief), 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:pg503:45:8 # text = I fastened my handkerchief to the nine sticks that stood erect, and extended it on all sides till it was as tight as the top of a drum; and I desired the Emperor to let a troop of his best horse, twenty-four in number, come and exercise upon this plain. 1 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 fastened fasten VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 4 nmod:poss _ _ 4 handkerchief handkerchief NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 5 to to ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 7 nine nine NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 8 nummod _ _ 8 sticks stick NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 obl _ _ 9 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 10 nsubj _ _ 10 stood stand VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 acl:relcl _ _ 11 erect erect ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 14 extended extend VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 15 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 obj _ _ 16 on on ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 18 det _ _ 18 sides side NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 obl _ _ 19 till till SCONJ IN _ 23 mark _ _ 20 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 21 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 cop _ _ 22 as as ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ _ 23 tight tight ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 advcl _ _ 24 as as ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 top top NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 drum drum NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 ; ; PUNCT : _ 33 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 32 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 desired desire VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 Emperor Emperor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 33 obj _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 let let VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 ccomp _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 troop troop NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obj _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 41 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 43 nmod:poss _ _ 42 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 43 amod _ _ 43 horse horse NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 45 twenty twenty NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 47 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 46 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 45 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 four four NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 43 nmod _ _ 48 in in ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 49 number number NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 51 punct _ _ 51 come come VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 conj _ _ 52 and and CCONJ CC _ 53 cc _ _ 53 exercise exercise VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 51 conj _ _ 54 upon upon ADP IN _ 56 case _ _ 55 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 56 det _ _ 56 plain plain NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 57 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fasten** | past | I | my handkerchief | | | | to the nine sticks | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent handkerchief=Patient to stick=Co-Patient | | 2 | **stand** | past | the nine sticks | | | | | erect *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **extend** | past | I *not said here* | handkerchief | | all sides | | | vn body\_motion-49.2-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 4 | **is** | past | handkerchief | | | | | as the top of a drum; tight *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **desire** | past | I | the Emperor | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **let** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | a troop of behavior's best horse twenty four in number | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent troop=Theme | | 7 | **come** | infinitive | I *not said here* | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **exercise** | infinitive | I *not said here* | | | | | upon this plain | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/7/) - next →: [sentence 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/9/) - ↑ back to [Chapter III](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/45/)