--- title: As the rocks were very steep and craggy, they were an insurmountable… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: As the rocks were very steep and craggy, they were an insurmountable barrier, so that the magician judged that there were but two things for it: either that the Prince retired into some cavern, or an abode of genies or fairies. Who acts: rocks, magician, two things, Prince. A sentence of «The Blue F --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/51/43/) [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/pg503/51/) / 43 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou, part 3, sentence 43 As the rocks were very steep and craggy, they were an insurmountable barrier, so that the magician judged that there were but two things for it: either that the Prince retired into some cavern, or an abode of genies or fairies. **Who acts:** rocks, magician, two things, Prince · **What happens:** be, judge, retire · **To what, where:** insurmountable barrier, abode, cavern This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rocks, magician, two things, Prince), 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:pg503:51:43 # text = As the rocks were very steep and craggy, they were an insurmountable barrier, so that the magician judged that there were but two things for it: either that the Prince retired into some cavern, or an abode of genies or fairies. 1 As as SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 rocks rock NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nsubj _ _ 4 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 5 very very ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 6 steep steep ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 advcl _ _ 7 and and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 8 craggy craggy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 10 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 11 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 cop _ _ 12 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 13 insurmountable insurmountable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 amod _ _ 14 barrier barrier NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 16 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 20 mark _ _ 17 that that SCONJ IN _ 16 fixed _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 magician magician NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nsubj _ _ 20 judged judge VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 21 that that SCONJ IN _ 23 mark _ _ 22 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 23 expl _ _ 23 were be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 advcl _ _ 24 but but CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 25 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 26 nummod _ _ 26 things thing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 nsubj _ _ 27 for for ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 : : PUNCT : _ 34 punct _ _ 30 either either CCONJ CC _ 34 cc:preconj _ _ 31 that that SCONJ IN _ 34 mark _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 Prince Prince PROPN NNP Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 34 retired retire VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 acl:relcl _ _ 35 into into ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 37 det _ _ 37 cavern cavern NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 39 or or CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 40 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 abode abode NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ _ 42 of of ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 genies genie NOUN NNS Number=Plur 41 nmod _ _ 44 or or CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 45 fairies fairy NOUN NNS Number=Plur 43 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 20 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the rocks | | | | | steep *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **be** | | the rocks *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **is a** | past | rocks *= rock* | a insurmountable barrier | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **judge** | past | the magician | | | | | | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **be** | past | two things for barrier | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **retire** | past | the Prince | a abode of genies or fairies | | some cavern | | | vn resign-10.11-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Attribute | 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/pg503/51/42/) - next →: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/51/44/) - ↑ back to [The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/51/)