--- title: And the secretary, humbly desiring to be heard again, said that as t… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: And the secretary, humbly desiring to be heard again, said that as to expense your allowance might be gradually lessened, so that, for want of sufficient food you should grow weak and faint, and die in a few months, when his Majesty’s subjects might cut your flesh from your bones and bury it, leavin --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/46/50/) [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 IV](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/46/) / 50 # The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter IV, sentence 50 And the secretary, humbly desiring to be heard again, said that as to expense your allowance might be gradually lessened, so that, for want of sufficient food you should grow weak and faint, and die in a few months, when his Majesty’s subjects might cut your flesh from your bones and bury it, leaving the skeleton for the admiration of posterity. **Who acts:** secretary, want, subjects, your · **What happens:** desire, hear, say, expense, lessen, grow · **To what, where:** allowance, flesh, bones, skeleton, sufficient food, posterity · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (secretary, want, subjects, your), 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:pg503:46:50 # text = And the secretary, humbly desiring to be heard again, said that as to expense your allowance might be gradually lessened, so that, for want of sufficient food you should grow weak and faint, and die in a few months, when his Majesty’s subjects might cut your flesh from your bones and bury it, leaving the skeleton for the admiration of posterity. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 secretary secretary NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 5 humbly humbly ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 6 desiring desire VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 3 appos _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 8 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 9 aux:pass _ _ 9 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 xcomp _ _ 10 again again ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 12 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 13 that that SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 14 as as SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 15 to to PART TO _ 16 mark _ _ 16 expense expense VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 ccomp _ _ 17 your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 18 nmod:poss _ _ 18 allowance allowance NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nsubj:pass _ _ 19 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 20 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 22 aux:pass _ _ 21 gradually gradually ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 22 lessened lessen VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 16 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 24 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 34 mark _ _ 25 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 24 fixed _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 27 for for ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 want want NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 29 of of ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 sufficient sufficient ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 food food NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nmod _ _ 32 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 grow grow VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 conj _ _ 35 weak weak ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 xcomp _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 37 faint faint ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 40 die die VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 conj _ _ 41 in in ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 43 few few ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 months month NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 52 punct _ _ 46 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 52 advmod _ _ 47 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 48 nmod:poss _ _ 48 Majesty Majesty PROPN NNP Number=Sing 50 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 49 ’s 's PART POS _ 48 case _ _ 50 subjects subject NOUN NNS Number=Plur 52 nsubj _ _ 51 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 52 aux _ _ 52 cut cut VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 parataxis _ _ 53 your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 54 nmod:poss _ _ 54 flesh flesh NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 obj _ _ 55 from from ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 56 your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 57 nmod:poss _ _ 57 bones bone NOUN NNS Number=Plur 52 obl _ _ 58 and and CCONJ CC _ 59 cc _ _ 59 bury bury VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 52 conj _ _ 60 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 59 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 61 , , PUNCT , _ 62 punct _ _ 62 leaving leave VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 59 advcl _ _ 63 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 64 det _ _ 64 skeleton skeleton NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 obj _ _ 65 for for ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 66 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 67 det _ _ 67 admiration admiration NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 obl _ _ 68 of of ADP IN _ 69 case _ _ 69 posterity posterity NOUN NN Number=Sing 67 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 70 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **desire** | gerund | | | | | | humbly *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 2 | **hear** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive · passive | | | | | again | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus» | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the secretary | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **expense** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **lessen** | might · passive | | your allowance | | | | gradually *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient | | 6 | **grow** | should | want of sufficient food | | | | | weak *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **die** | infinitive | | | | | month | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 8 | **cut** | might | secretary's Majesty's subjects | your flesh | | your bones | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V PP»: agent=Asset flesh=Product from bone=Material | | 9 | **bury** | infinitive | secretary's Majesty's subjects *not said here* | flesh | | | | | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 10 | **leave** | gerund | secretary's Majesty's subjects *not said here* | the skeleton | | | | for the admiration of posterity | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent skeleton=Theme for admiration=Recipient | | 11 | **allowance** | | your | | | | | | nom allowance «possession transitive»: poss=agent | | 12 | **want** | | | sufficient food | | | | | nom want «state transitive»: of=patient | | 13 | **admire** | | | posterity | | | | | nom admiration «feeling transitive»: of=patient | 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 49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/46/49/) - next →: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/46/51/) - ↑ back to [Chapter IV](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/46/)