--- title: Now this was very difficult to do, as she was guarded by some terrib… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Now this was very difficult to do, as she was guarded by some terrible lions; but happily the Queen had heard a long time before that whoever wanted to pass these lions safely must throw to them a cake made of millet flour, sugar-candy, and crocodile’s eggs. Who acts: this, terrible lions, Queen, th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/5/26/) [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 Yellow Dwarf, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/5/) / 26 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Yellow Dwarf, part 1, sentence 26 Now this was very difficult to do, as she was guarded by some terrible lions; but happily the Queen had heard a long time before that whoever wanted to pass these lions safely must throw to them a cake made of millet flour, sugar-candy, and crocodile’s eggs. **Who acts:** this, terrible lions, Queen, that · **What happens:** be, do, guard, hear, want, pass · **To what, where:** queen, lions, cake This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Yellow Dwarf, 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 (this, terrible lions, Queen, that), 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:pg503:5:26 # text = Now this was very difficult to do, as she was guarded by some terrible lions; but happily the Queen had heard a long time before that whoever wanted to pass these lions safely must throw to them a cake made of millet flour, sugar-candy, and crocodile’s eggs. 1 Now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 5 advmod _ _ 2 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 5 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 very very ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 5 difficult difficult ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 7 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 9 as as SCONJ IN _ 12 mark _ _ 10 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 11 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 aux:pass _ _ 12 guarded guard VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 7 advcl _ _ 13 by by ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 14 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 16 det _ _ 15 terrible terrible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 amod _ _ 16 lions lion NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ; ; PUNCT : _ 23 punct _ _ 18 but but CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 19 happily happily ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 Queen Queen PROPN NNP Number=Sing 23 nsubj _ _ 22 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 aux _ _ 23 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 37 advcl _ _ 24 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 25 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 26 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl:unmarked _ _ 27 before before SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 28 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 30 nsubj _ _ 29 whoever whoever PRON WP PronType=Rel 30 nsubj _ _ 30 wanted want VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 advcl _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 32 pass pass VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 xcomp _ _ 33 these this DET DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 34 det _ _ 34 lions lion NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 obj _ _ 35 safely safely ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 36 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 37 throw throw VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 38 to to ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obl _ _ 40 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 cake cake NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obj _ _ 42 made make VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 41 acl _ _ 43 of of ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 millet millet NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 compound _ _ 45 flour flour NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 47 sugar sugar NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 48 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 47 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 49 candy candy NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 54 punct _ _ 51 and and CCONJ CC _ 54 cc _ _ 52 crocodile crocodile NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 53 ’s 's PART POS _ 52 case _ _ 54 eggs egg NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 55 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | this | | | | now | difficult *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | this *not said here* | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **guard** | past · passive | some terrible lions | queen | | | | | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Beneficiary | | 4 | **hear** | past · perfect | the Queen | | | | time | happily *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer | | 5 | **want** | past | that | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 6 | **pass** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | that *not said here* | this lions | | | | safely *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme lion=Trajectory | | 7 | **throw** | must | | a cake | lions *= lion* | | | crocodile's eggs *obl* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent cake=Theme to they=Destination | | 8 | **make** | participle | | a cake *not said here* | | | | of millet flour and sugar candy | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset | 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 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/5/25/) - next →: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/5/27/) - ↑ back to [The Yellow Dwarf, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/5/)