---
title: I told the Emperor that my good fortune had thrown this boat in my w… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: I told the Emperor that my good fortune had thrown this boat in my way to carry me to some place whence I might return to my native country, and begged his orders for materials to fit it up, and leave to depart--which, after many kindly speeches, he was pleased to grant. Who acts: I, Blefuscu. A sen
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter V, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I told the Emperor that my good fortune had thrown this boat in my way to carry me to some place whence I might return to my native country, and begged his orders for materials to fit it up, and leave to depart--which, after many kindly speeches, he was pleased to grant.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, Blefuscu · **What happens:** tell, throw, carry, return, beg, fit up · **To what, where:** Emperor, good fortune, way, me, place, orders · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter V. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Blefuscu), 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:pg503:47:4
# text = I told the Emperor that my good fortune had thrown this boat in my way to carry me to some place whence I might return to my native country, and begged his orders for materials to fit it up, and leave to depart--which, after many kindly speeches, he was pleased to grant.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	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	Emperor	emperor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	iobj	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	obj	_	_
6	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	fortune	fortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	thrown	throw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	ccomp	_	_
11	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
18	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	21	det	_	_
21	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
22	whence	whence	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	acl:relcl	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	orders	order	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
35	for	for	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	materials	material	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	fit	fit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	advcl	_	_
39	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	_
40	up	up	ADP	RP	_	38	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	leave	leave	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	depart	depart	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	52	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
49	after	after	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
50	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
51	kindly	kindly	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
52	speeches	speech	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
54	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
55	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	cop	_	_
56	pleased	pleased	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
57	to	to	PART	TO	_	58	mark	_	_
58	grant	grant	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | I |  | the Emperor |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent emperor=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **throw** | past · perfect · passive |  | my good fortune |  | my way |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **carry** | to-infinitive |  | me |  | some place |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent i=Theme to place=Destination |
| 4 | **return** | might | I |  |  |  |  | to my native country *result*; whence *property* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to country=Result |
| 5 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | I *not said here* | Blefuscu's orders |  |  |  | for materials | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent order=Recipient for material=Topic |
| 6 | **fit up** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | boat |  |  |  |  | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 7 | **leave** | infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **depart** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  | after many speeches |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **is** | past | Blefuscu |  |  |  |  | pleased *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **grant** | to-infinitive | Blefuscu *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **order** |  | Blefuscu |  |  |  |  |  | nom order «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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