---
title: When I was just preparing to pay my respects to the Emperor of Blefu… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When I was just preparing to pay my respects to the Emperor of Blefuscu, a distinguished person at Court, to whom I had once done a great service, came to my house very privately at night, and without sending his name desired admission. Who acts: I, Emperor. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by An
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter IV, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When I was just preparing to pay my respects to the Emperor of Blefuscu, a distinguished person at Court, to whom I had once done a great service, came to my house very privately at night, and without sending his name desired admission.

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**Who acts:** I, Emperor · **What happens:** prepare, pay, do, come, send, desire · **To what, where:** distinguished person, Court, respects, great service, house, name

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter IV. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Emperor), 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:pg503:46:36
# text = When I was just preparing to pay my respects to the Emperor of Blefuscu, a distinguished person at Court, to whom I had once done a great service, came to my house very privately at night, and without sending his name desired admission.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	preparing	prepare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	respects	respects	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	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	7	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	Blefuscu	Blefuscu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	distinguished	distinguished	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	Court	Court	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	obl	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	27	advmod	_	_
27	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	23	acl:relcl	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	service	service	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
32	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
36	very	very	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	privately	privately	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
38	at	at	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
42	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
43	sending	send	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	advcl	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	_
46	desired	desire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	amod	_	_
47	admission	admission	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	32	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prepare** | past · progressive | I | a distinguished person |  | Court |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent person=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **pay** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | my respects |  |  |  | to the Emperor of Blefuscu | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent respects=Asset |
| 3 | **do** | past · perfect | I | a great service |  |  |  | once *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent service=Eventuality |
| 4 | **come** | past |  |  |  | my house |  | privately *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to house=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **send** | gerund |  | Emperor's name |  |  |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent name=Destination admission=Theme |
| 6 | **desire** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 7 | **name** |  | Emperor |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: 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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