---
title: But while they were collecting jasper and porphyry, agate and marble… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But while they were collecting jasper and porphyry, agate and marble, gold and bronze, statues and devices, to immortalize the King’s memory, he was thanking the good Mermaid and begging her still to help him, which she graciously promised to do as she disappeared; and then he set out for the Castle
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Yellow Dwarf, part 3, sentence 59

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But while they were collecting jasper and porphyry, agate and marble, gold and bronze, statues and devices, to immortalize the King’s memory, he was thanking the good Mermaid and begging her still to help him, which she graciously promised to do as she disappeared; and then he set out for the Castle of Steel.

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**Who acts:** sisters, King, Mermaid · **What happens:** collect, immortalize, thank, beg, help, promise · **To what, where:** jasper, memory, good Mermaid, Mermaid, King

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Yellow Dwarf, 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 (sisters, King, Mermaid), 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:pg503:7:59
# text = But while they were collecting jasper and porphyry, agate and marble, gold and bronze, statues and devices, to immortalize the King’s memory, he was thanking the good Mermaid and begging her still to help him, which she graciously promised to do as she disappeared; and then he set out for the Castle of Steel.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	collecting	collect	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	jasper	jasper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	porphyry	porphyry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	agate	agate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	marble	marble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	bronze	bronze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	statues	statue	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	appos	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	devices	device	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	immortalize	immortalize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	’s	's	PART	POS	_	25	case	_	_
27	memory	memory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	thanking	thank	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	Mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	begging	beg	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	conj	_	_
37	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	_
38	still	still	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	advcl	_	_
41	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	46	obj	_	_
44	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
45	graciously	graciously	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
46	promised	promise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	advcl	_	_
47	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
48	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	xcomp	_	_
49	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
50	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
51	disappeared	disappear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	56	punct	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
54	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	56	advmod	_	_
55	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
56	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
57	out	out	ADP	RP	_	56	compound:prt	_	_
58	for	for	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	Castle	Castle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	_
61	of	of	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
62	Steel	Steel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	60	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **collect** | past · progressive | sisters *= sister* | jasper and porphyry and agate and marble and gold and bronze |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent jasper=Theme |
| 2 | **immortalize** | to-infinitive | sisters *= sister* *not said here* | the King's memory |  |  |  |  | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent memory=Patient |
| 3 | **thank** *speech: thank* | past · progressive | King |  | the good Mermaid |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mermaid=Theme |
| 4 | **beg** *speech: request* | gerund | King *not said here* |  | Mermaid |  | still |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent her=Recipient |
| 5 | **help** | to-infinitive | King *not said here* |  | King |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |
| 6 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past | Mermaid |  |  |  |  | graciously *property* | vn promise-37.13 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent which=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Mermaid *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **disappear** | past | Mermaid |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **set out** | past | King |  |  |  | then | for the Castle of Steel | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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