---
title: ‘What is this that you are standing fighting about for ever and ever… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘What is this that you are standing fighting about for ever and ever?’ said he to the brothers; ‘let me make a trial of these things, and then I will judge between you.’ Who acts: you, this, me, I. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Princesses of Whiteland, with its depende
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Three Princesses of Whiteland, sentence 75

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘What is this that you are standing fighting about for ever and ever?’ said he to the brothers; ‘let me make a trial of these things, and then I will judge between you.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, this, me, I · **What happens:** stand, fight, be, let, make, judge · **To what, where:** me, trial, things · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Princesses of Whiteland. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, this, me, I), 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:pg540:26:75
# text = ‘What is this that you are standing fighting about for ever and ever?’ said he to the brothers; ‘let me make a trial of these things, and then I will judge between you.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	obj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	nsubj	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
6	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	ccomp	_	_
9	fighting	fight	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
10	about	about	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	9	obl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
23	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
25	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	trial	trial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	31	det	_	_
31	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
34	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	37	advmod	_	_
35	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	judge	judge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	conj	_	_
38	between	between	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | present · progressive | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **fight** | gerund | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **be** *speech: assert* | present | this |  |  |  |  | to the brothers; say *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **let** | infinitive |  | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **make** | infinitive | me *not said here* | a trial of this things |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset trial=Product |
| 6 | **judge** | future | I |  |  |  | then | between you | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **try** |  |  | this things |  |  |  |  | nom trial «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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