--- title: “Indeed, sir,” answered the merchant, “he was in his right senses ye… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: “Indeed, sir,” answered the merchant, “he was in his right senses yesterday; I can assure you he is one of the ablest criers we have, and the most employed of any when anything valuable is to be sold. Who acts: sir, right, we. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Prince A --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/49/43/) [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/) / [The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fair…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/49/) / 43 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou, part 1, sentence 43 “Indeed, sir,” answered the merchant, “he was in his right senses yesterday; I can assure you he is one of the ablest criers we have, and the most employed of any when anything valuable is to be sold. **Who acts:** sir, right, we · **What happens:** answer, be, sense, assure, have, employ · **To what, where:** merchant, right, you, one, ablest criers, anything valuable · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sir, right, we), 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:pg503:49:43 # text = “Indeed, sir,” answered the merchant, “he was in his right senses yesterday; I can assure you he is one of the ablest criers we have, and the most employed of any when anything valuable is to be sold. 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Indeed indeed ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 4 sir sir NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 6 ” " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ 7 answered answer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 merchant merchant NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 11 “ " PUNCT `` _ 17 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 13 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 cop _ _ 14 in in ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 16 nmod:poss _ _ 16 right right NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 17 senses sense VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 7 parataxis _ _ 18 yesterday yesterday NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 19 ; ; PUNCT : _ 22 punct _ _ 20 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 21 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 22 assure assure VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 conj _ _ 23 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 22 iobj _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 25 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 26 cop _ _ 26 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 22 ccomp _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 29 ablest able ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 30 amod _ _ 30 criers crier NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 nmod _ _ 31 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 32 have have VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 30 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 36 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 37 advmod _ _ 37 employed employ VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 7 parataxis _ _ 38 of of ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 37 obl _ _ 40 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 46 advmod _ _ 41 anything anything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 42 compound _ _ 42 valuable valuable NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 nsubj:pass _ _ 43 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 46 aux:pass _ _ 44 to to PART TO _ 46 mark _ _ 45 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 46 aux:pass _ _ 46 sold sell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 39 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | sir | the merchant | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **is** *in a quote* | past | sir | | | sir's right | | | tree rules | | 3 | **sense** *in a quote* | present | sir's right | | | | yesterday | | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 4 | **assure** *in a quote* | can | sir | | you | | | | vn advise-37.9 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient | | 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | right | one | | | | of the ablest criers | tree rules | | 6 | **have** *in a quote* | present | we | the ablest criers *not said here* | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent crier=Patient | | 7 | **employ** *in a quote* | participle | | | | | | of any | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **sell** *in a quote* | present · passive | | anything valuable | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | 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 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/49/42/) - next →: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/49/44/) - ↑ back to [The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/49/)