---
title: But Reldresal, secretary for private affairs, who has always proved… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But Reldresal, secretary for private affairs, who has always proved himself your friend suggested that if his Majesty would please to spare your life and only give orders to put out both your eyes, justice might in some measure be satisfied. Who acts: private affairs, friend, Majesty, Reldresal. A s
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter IV, sentence 47

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But Reldresal, secretary for private affairs, who has always proved himself your friend suggested that if his Majesty would please to spare your life and only give orders to put out both your eyes, justice might in some measure be satisfied.

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**Who acts:** private affairs, friend, Majesty, Reldresal · **What happens:** prove, suggest, please, spare, give, put out · **To what, where:** Reldresal, life, orders, eyes, measure

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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 (private affairs, friend, Majesty, Reldresal), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg503:46:47
# text = But Reldresal, secretary for private affairs, who has always proved himself your friend suggested that if his Majesty would please to spare your life and only give orders to put out both your eyes, justice might in some measure be satisfied.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
2	Reldresal	Reldresal	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	secretary	secretary	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	private	private	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	affairs	affair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
10	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	12	advmod	_	_
12	proved	prove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
13	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	12	obj	_	_
14	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	suggested	suggest	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
18	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	Majesty	Majesty	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	please	please	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	spare	spare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	only	only	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
30	orders	order	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
33	out	out	ADP	RP	_	32	compound:prt	_	_
34	both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc:preconj	_	_
35	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
38	justice	justice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
39	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	42	det	_	_
42	measure	measure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	_
43	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	cop	_	_
44	satisfied	satisfied	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	44	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prove** | present · perfect | private affairs and justice | Reldresal |  |  |  | always *property* | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent himself=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 2 | **suggest** *speech: suggest* | past | your friend |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **please** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | friend's Majesty |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **spare** | to-infinitive | friend's Majesty *not said here* | your life |  |  |  |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent life=Asset |
| 5 | **give** | present | your friend *not said here* | orders |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent order=Theme |
| 6 | **put out** | to-infinitive | your friend *not said here* | your eyes |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent eye=Goal |
| 7 | **is** | might | Reldresal |  |  | some measure |  | satisfied *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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