---
title: It was no small surprise to the Prince to hear himself named in a pl… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was no small surprise to the Prince to hear himself named in a place he had never heard of, though so nigh to his father’s capital, and he could not comprehend how he should be known to a lady who was a stranger to him. Who acts: It, Prince, lady. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lan
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou, part 2, sentence 46

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was no small surprise to the Prince to hear himself named in a place he had never heard of, though so nigh to his father’s capital, and he could not comprehend how he should be known to a lady who was a stranger to him.

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**Who acts:** It, Prince, lady · **What happens:** be, hear, name, not hear, not comprehend, know · **To what, where:** small surprise, Prince, place, stranger

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, Prince, lady), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg503:50:46
# text = It was no small surprise to the Prince to hear himself named in a place he had never heard of, though so nigh to his father’s capital, and he could not comprehend how he should be known to a lady who was a stranger to him.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
4	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	csubj	_	_
11	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obj	_	_
12	named	name	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	xcomp	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	acl:relcl	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
22	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
23	so	so	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	nigh	nigh	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’s	's	PART	POS	_	27	case	_	_
29	capital	capital	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
33	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
35	comprehend	comprehend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
36	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	40	advmod	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
39	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	advcl	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
44	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	47	nsubj	_	_
45	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	conj	_	_
48	to	to	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | no small surprise |  |  |  | to the Prince | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | to-infinitive |  | Prince |  | a place |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **name** | participle | Prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **not** **hear** | past · perfect | Prince | a place *not said here* |  |  |  | to Prince's father's capital | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer place=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **comprehend** | could | Prince |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **know** | should · passive |  | Prince |  |  |  | to a lady and a stranger | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 7 | **is a** | past | a lady and a stranger | a stranger | Prince |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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