---
title: Messengers were sent to bring the Princes out of prison, and they ca… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Messengers were sent to bring the Princes out of prison, and they came very sadly, believing that they were to be executed at once: the nurse and her daughter and the boatman were brought also. Who acts: Messengers. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Princess Rosette, with its depend
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Princess Rosette, sentence 255

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Messengers were sent to bring the Princes out of prison, and they came very sadly, believing that they were to be executed at once: the nurse and her daughter and the boatman were brought also.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Messengers · **What happens:** send, bring, come, believe, execute · **To what, where:** Messengers, Princes, prison, nurse · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Princess Rosette. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Messengers), 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:pg540:11:255
# text = Messengers were sent to bring the Princes out of prison, and they came very sadly, believing that they were to be executed at once: the nurse and her daughter and the boatman were brought also.
1	Messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Princes	Prince	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	prison	prison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
15	very	very	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	sadly	sadly	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	believing	believe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux:pass	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	executed	execute	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	ccomp	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	conj	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	boatman	boatman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	conj	_	_
36	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
38	also	also	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | past · passive |  | Messengers |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **bring** | to-infinitive | Messengers *not said here* | the Princes |  | prison |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent prince=Theme out prison=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **come** | past | Messengers *= messenger* |  |  |  |  | sadly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **believe** | gerund | Messengers *= messenger* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **execute** | past · passive |  | Messengers *= messenger* |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **bring** | past · passive |  | the nurse and sister's daughter and the boatman |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: subject=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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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