---
title: The merchant called him by his name, and, pointing to the Prince, sa… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The merchant called him by his name, and, pointing to the Prince, said to him: “Tell that gentleman, who asked me if you were in your right senses, what you mean by crying that ivory perspective glass, which seems not to be worth much, at thirty purses. Who acts: merchant, crier, that, ivory perspec
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou, part 1, sentence 47

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The merchant called him by his name, and, pointing to the Prince, said to him: “Tell that gentleman, who asked me if you were in your right senses, what you mean by crying that ivory perspective glass, which seems not to be worth much, at thirty purses.

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**Who acts:** merchant, crier, that, ivory perspective glass · **What happens:** call, point, say, tell, ask, be · **To what, where:** crier, Prince, gentleman, me, right senses · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (merchant, crier, that, ivory perspective glass), 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:pg503:49:47
# text = The merchant called him by his name, and, pointing to the Prince, said to him: “Tell that gentleman, who asked me if you were in your right senses, what you mean by crying that ivory perspective glass, which seems not to be worth much, at thirty purses.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	pointing	point	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	ccomp	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
22	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	det	_	_
23	gentleman	gentleman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
26	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
27	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	iobj	_	_
28	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
29	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
33	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	senses	sens	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	38	obj	_	_
37	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	acl:relcl	_	_
39	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
40	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	38	xcomp	_	_
41	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	44	nsubj	_	_
42	ivory	ivory	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
43	perspective	perspective	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	compound	_	_
44	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	47	nsubj	_	_
47	seems	seem	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	acl:relcl	_	_
48	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	51	advmod	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
50	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	cop	_	_
51	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	ccomp	_	_
52	much	much	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
54	at	at	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	thirty	thirty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	56	nummod	_	_
56	purses	purse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **call** *speech: assert* | past | the merchant |  | crier |  |  | by crier's name | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 2 | **point** | gerund |  |  | the Prince |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to prince=Recipient |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | crier |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  | that gentleman |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent gentleman=Recipient |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | past |  |  | me |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 6 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past | crier |  |  | your right senses |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **mean** *in a quote* | present | crier | your right senses |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **cry** *speech: express* *not said to happen, in a quote* | gerund | crier *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **glass** *in a quote* |  | that |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **seem** *in a quote* | present | ivory perspective glass |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 11 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | ivory perspective glass *not said here* |  |  |  |  | worth *property* | tree rules |
| 12 | **name** |  | crier |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «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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