---
title: Fanfaronade was not generally at a loss for something to say, but wh… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Fanfaronade was not generally at a loss for something to say, but when he saw the Princess, she was so much more beautiful and majestic than he had expected that he could only stammer out a few words, and entirely forgot the harangue which he had been learning for months, and knew well enough to hav
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1, sentence 80

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Fanfaronade was not generally at a loss for something to say, but when he saw the Princess, she was so much more beautiful and majestic than he had expected that he could only stammer out a few words, and entirely forgot the harangue which he had been learning for months, and knew well enough to have repeated it in his sleep.

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**Who acts:** Fanfaronade, Princess, harangue · **What happens:** not be, say, see, be, expect, stammer out · **To what, where:** loss, Princess, Fanfaronade, few words, harangue, sleep · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fanfaronade, Princess, harangue), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg540:3:80
# text = Fanfaronade was not generally at a loss for something to say, but when he saw the Princess, she was so much more beautiful and majestic than he had expected that he could only stammer out a few words, and entirely forgot the harangue which he had been learning for months, and knew well enough to have repeated it in his sleep.
1	Fanfaronade	Fanfaronade	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
4	generally	generally	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	7	nmod	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	much	much	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	25	advmod	_	_
25	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	majestic	majestic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	_
28	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	expected	expect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	advcl	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	only	only	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	stammer	stammer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	advcl	_	_
37	out	out	ADP	RP	_	36	compound:prt	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
43	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	forgot	forget	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	harangue	harangue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
47	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	51	nsubj	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
49	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
50	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	51	aux	_	_
51	learning	learn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	46	acl:relcl	_	_
52	for	for	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	conj	_	_
57	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	56	advmod	_	_
58	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	_
59	to	to	PART	TO	_	61	mark	_	_
60	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	61	aux	_	_
61	repeated	repeat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	56	advcl	_	_
62	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	obj	_	_
63	in	in	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
64	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	65	nmod:poss	_	_
65	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | Fanfaronade |  |  | a loss |  | for something; generally *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | Fanfaronade *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **see** | past | Fanfaronade | the Princess |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer princess=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is** | past | Princess |  |  |  |  | beautiful *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  | Princess *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **expect** | past · perfect · passive |  | Fanfaronade |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 7 | **stammer out** *speech: other* | could | Fanfaronade | a few words |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Topic |
| 8 | **forget** | past | Fanfaronade *not said here* | the harangue |  |  |  | entirely *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **learn** | past · perfect · progressive | the harangue |  |  |  | month |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **know** | past | Fanfaronade *not said here* |  |  |  |  | enough, well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 11 | **repeat** | to-infinitive · perfect | Fanfaronade *not said here* | harangue |  | Fanfaronade's sleep |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 12 | **sleep** |  | Fanfaronade |  |  |  |  |  | nom sleep «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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