---
title: And when he had got him out he told him that if he could answer him… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And when he had got him out he told him that if he could answer him three questions his life should be spared. Who acts: monster, three questions. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Red Etin, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Red Etin, sentence 29

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And when he had got him out he told him that if he could answer him three questions his life should be spared.

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**Who acts:** monster, three questions · **What happens:** get out, tell, answer, spare · **To what, where:** man, three questions, life · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Red Etin. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (monster, three questions), 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:pg503:56:29
# text = And when he had got him out he told him that if he could answer him three questions his life should be spared.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	parataxis	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	iobj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	answer	answer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	nummod	_	_
18	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	spared	spare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get out** | past · perfect | monster | man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | monster |  | man |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | could | monster | three questions | man |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent he=Theme question=Eventuality |
| 4 | **spare** | should · passive | three questions *not said here* | monster's life |  |  |  |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: subject=Asset |

<!-- .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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