--- title: The kind Mermaid, grieved at the sad fate of the lovers, caused them… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The kind Mermaid, grieved at the sad fate of the lovers, caused them to be changed into two tall palm trees, which stand always side by side, whispering together of their faithful love and caressing one another with their interlacing branches. Who acts: kind Mermaid, two tall palm trees, trees. A se --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/8/1/) [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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/8/) / 1 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Yellow Dwarf, part 4, sentence 1 The kind Mermaid, grieved at the sad fate of the lovers, caused them to be changed into two tall palm trees, which stand always side by side, whispering together of their faithful love and caressing one another with their interlacing branches. **Who acts:** kind Mermaid, two tall palm trees, trees · **What happens:** grieve, cause, change, stand, whisper, caress · **To what, where:** kind Mermaid, sad fate, lovers, two tall palm trees, side, one This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Yellow Dwarf, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (kind Mermaid, two tall palm trees, trees), 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:pg503:8:1 # text = The kind Mermaid, grieved at the sad fate of the lovers, caused them to be changed into two tall palm trees, which stand always side by side, whispering together of their faithful love and caressing one another with their interlacing branches. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 kind kind ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 Mermaid Mermaid PROPN NNP Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 5 grieved grieve VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 acl _ _ 6 at at ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 8 sad sad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 fate fate NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 10 of of ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 lovers lover NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 14 caused cause VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 15 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 obj _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 17 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 18 aux:pass _ _ 18 changed change VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 14 ccomp _ _ 19 into into ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 20 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 23 nummod _ _ 21 tall tall ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 22 palm palm NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 compound _ _ 23 trees tree NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 26 nsubj _ _ 26 stand stand VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 acl:relcl _ _ 27 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 28 advmod _ _ 28 side side NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ _ 29 by by ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 side side NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 32 whispering whisper VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 26 advcl _ _ 33 together together ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 34 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 35 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 37 nmod:poss _ _ 36 faithful faithful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 amod _ _ 37 love love NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 39 caressing caress VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 32 conj _ _ 40 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 39 obj _ _ 41 another another DET DT PronType=Ind 40 fixed _ _ 42 with with ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 43 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 45 nmod:poss _ _ 44 interlacing interlace VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 45 amod _ _ 45 branches branch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 14 punct _ SpaceAfter=No ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **grieve** | participle | | the kind Mermaid *not said here* | | the sad fate of the lovers | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **cause** | past | the kind Mermaid | lovers *= lover* | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **change** | to-infinitive · passive | the kind Mermaid *not said here* | | | | | into two tall palm trees *result* | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.result»: into tree=Result | | 4 | **stand** | present | two tall palm trees | side | | | | by side | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by side=Location | | 5 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | gerund | two tall palm trees *not said here* | | | | | of trees's faithful love; together *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **caress** | gerund | two tall palm trees *not said here* | one | | | | with trees's interlacing branches | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent one=Experiencer with branch=Instrument | | 7 | **interlace** | gerund | | | | | | | vn amalgamate-22.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 8 | **fate** | | | the lovers | | | | | nom fate «event transitive»: of=patient | | 9 | **love** | | trees *= tree* | | | | | | nom love «feeling transitive»: poss=agent | 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: [The Yellow Dwarf, part 3, 99](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/7/99/) - next →: [sentence 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/8/2/) - ↑ back to [The Yellow Dwarf, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/8/)