--- title: The first thing he was told was that when the princesses got up he w… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The first thing he was told was that when the princesses got up he was to present each one with a bouquet, and Michael thought that if he had nothing more unpleasant to do than that he should get on very well. Who acts: princesses, Gazer, first thing. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lan --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/2/33/) [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 Red Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/) / [The Twelve Dancing Princesses](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/2/) / 33 # The Red Fairy Book, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, sentence 33 The first thing he was told was that when the princesses got up he was to present each one with a bouquet, and Michael thought that if he had nothing more unpleasant to do than that he should get on very well. **Who acts:** princesses, Gazer, first thing · **What happens:** tell, get up, be, have, do, get on · **To what, where:** Gazer, nothing · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (princesses, Gazer, first thing), 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:pg540:2:33 # text = The first thing he was told was that when the princesses got up he was to present each one with a bouquet, and Michael thought that if he had nothing more unpleasant to do than that he should get on very well. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 first first ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 3 amod _ _ 3 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj:outer _ _ 4 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 5 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 aux:pass _ _ 6 told tell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 acl:relcl _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 cop _ _ 8 that that SCONJ IN _ 26 mark _ _ 9 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 12 advmod _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 princesses princess NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 nsubj _ _ 12 got get VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 advcl _ _ 13 up up ADP RP _ 12 compound:prt _ _ 14 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 15 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 17 present present VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 ccomp _ _ 18 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 19 det _ _ 19 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ _ 20 with with ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 bouquet bouquet NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 25 Michael Michael PROPN NNP Number=Sing 26 nsubj _ _ 26 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 27 that that SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 28 if if SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 29 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 advcl _ _ 31 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 30 obj _ _ 32 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 33 advmod _ _ 33 unpleasant unpleasant ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 ccomp _ _ 34 to to PART TO _ 35 mark _ _ 35 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 xcomp _ _ 36 than than SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 37 that that SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 38 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 39 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 40 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 advcl _ _ 41 on on ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 42 very very ADV RB _ 43 advmod _ _ 43 well well ADV RB Degree=Pos 40 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 26 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive | | Gazer | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | | 2 | **get up** | past | the princesses | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 3 | **is** | past | Gazer | | | | | present *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **is** | past | the first thing | | | | | think *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Gazer | nothing | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Patient | | 6 | **do** | to-infinitive | the first thing *not said here* | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **get on** | should | Gazer | | | | | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/2/32/) - next →: [sentence 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/2/34/) - ↑ back to [The Twelve Dancing Princesses](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/2/)