---
title: The eldest was quite willing to go to the meadow; he would watch the… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The eldest was quite willing to go to the meadow; he would watch the grass, he said, and he would do it so well that neither man, nor beast, nor even the devil himself should have any of it. Who acts: eldest, man, devil. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess on the Glass H
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Princess on the Glass Hill, sentence 4

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The eldest was quite willing to go to the meadow; he would watch the grass, he said, and he would do it so well that neither man, nor beast, nor even the devil himself should have any of it.

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**Who acts:** eldest, man, devil · **What happens:** be, go, watch, say, do, have · **To what, where:** meadow, grass, any · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess on the Glass Hill. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eldest, man, devil), 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:pg503:48:4
# text = The eldest was quite willing to go to the meadow; he would watch the grass, he said, and he would do it so well that neither man, nor beast, nor even the devil himself should have any of it.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	eldest	eld	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	willing	willing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	meadow	meadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	24	advmod	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	30	det	_	_
30	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	33	cc	_	_
33	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
35	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	38	cc	_	_
36	even	even	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	devil	devil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
39	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	41	nsubj	_	_
40	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	parataxis	_	_
42	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	41	obj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the eldest |  |  |  |  | willing *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | to-infinitive | the eldest *not said here* |  |  | the meadow |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to meadow=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **watch** | would | man | the grass |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grass=Theme |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **do** | would | man | grass |  |  |  | well *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 6 | **have** | should | the devil | any |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent any=Patient |

<!-- .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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