--- title: ‘I seemed to hear a voice in the air which said: “Be firm, happen wh… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: ‘I seemed to hear a voice in the air which said: “Be firm, happen what may, and seek the Golden Branch,”’ answered the Grasshopper, ‘and I thought the command must be for me, so I started at once, though I don’t know the way.’ Who acts: I, air, Grasshopper, command. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/36/63/) [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 Golden Branch, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/36/) / 63 # The Red Fairy Book, The Golden Branch, part 3, sentence 63 ‘I seemed to hear a voice in the air which said: “Be firm, happen what may, and seek the Golden Branch,”’ answered the Grasshopper, ‘and I thought the command must be for me, so I started at once, though I don’t know the way.’ **Who acts:** I, air, Grasshopper, command · **What happens:** seem, hear, say, be, happen, seek · **To what, where:** voice, air, Golden Branch, way · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Branch, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, air, Grasshopper, command), 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:pg540:36:63 # text = ‘I seemed to hear a voice in the air which said: “Be firm, happen what may, and seek the Golden Branch,”’ answered the Grasshopper, ‘and I thought the command must be for me, so I started at once, though I don’t know the way.’ 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 to to PART TO _ 5 mark _ _ 5 hear hear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 xcomp _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 voice voice NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 8 in in ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 air air NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 11 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 12 nsubj _ _ 12 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 : : PUNCT : _ 16 punct _ _ 14 “ " PUNCT `` _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 Be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 16 cop _ _ 16 firm firm ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 18 happen happen VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 16 parataxis _ _ 19 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 18 obj _ _ 20 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 19 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 seek seek VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 25 Golden golden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 26 Branch branch NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ” " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 29 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 30 punct _ _ 30 answered answer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 Grasshopper Grasshopper PROPN NNP Number=Sing 30 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 34 ‘ ‘ INTJ UH _ 32 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 36 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 37 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 conj _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 command command NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nsubj _ _ 40 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 43 aux _ _ 41 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 43 cop _ _ 42 for for ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 37 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 45 so so ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ _ 46 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 47 nsubj _ _ 47 started start VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 48 at at ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 49 once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 47 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 55 punct _ _ 51 though though SCONJ IN _ 55 mark _ _ 52 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 55 nsubj _ _ 53 do do AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 55 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 54 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 55 advmod _ _ 55 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 47 conj _ _ 56 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 57 det _ _ 57 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 58 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 59 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **seem** | past | I | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | | 2 | **hear** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | a voice | | the air | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer voice=Stimulus | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the air | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **is** *in a quote* | infinitive | | | | | | firm *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **happen** *in a quote* | infinitive | | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **seek** *in a quote* | infinitive | the air *= air* *not said here* | the Golden Branch | | | | | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent branch=Theme | | 7 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the Grasshopper | | | | | | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **think** *speech: other* | past | I | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **is** | must | the command | | | | | for me | tree rules | | 10 | **start** | past | I | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 11 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | I | the way | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer way=Stimulus | 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 62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/36/62/) - next →: [sentence 64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/36/64/) - ↑ back to [The Golden Branch, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/36/)