---
title: Here they got into a little boat in which the poor old boatman was s… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Here they got into a little boat in which the poor old boatman was sleeping, and when he woke up and saw the lovely Princess, with all her diamonds and her spiders’—web scarf, he did not know what to think, and obeyed her instantly when she commanded him to set out. Who acts: dagger, poor old boatma
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Princess Mayblossom, part 2, sentence 16

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Here they got into a little boat in which the poor old boatman was sleeping, and when he woke up and saw the lovely Princess, with all her diamonds and her spiders’—web scarf, he did not know what to think, and obeyed her instantly when she commanded him to set out.

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**Who acts:** dagger, poor old boatman, boatman, Princess · **What happens:** get, sleep, wake up, see, not know, think · **To what, where:** little boat, lovely Princess, Princess, boatman · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dagger, poor old boatman, boatman, Princess), 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:pg540:4:16
# text = Here they got into a little boat in which the poor old boatman was sleeping, and when he woke up and saw the lovely Princess, with all her diamonds and her spiders’—web scarf, he did not know what to think, and obeyed her instantly when she commanded him to set out.
1	Here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	obl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	boatman	boatman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	sleeping	sleep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	woke	wake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
21	up	up	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	lovely	lovely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	31	det:predet	_	_
30	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	diamonds	diamond	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	spiders	spider	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	web	web	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	_
38	scarf	scarf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
41	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
42	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
43	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	conj	_	_
44	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	46	obj	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	obeyed	obey	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
50	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obj	_	_
51	instantly	instantly	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
52	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	54	advmod	_	_
53	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
54	commanded	command	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	conj	_	_
55	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	obj	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	57	mark	_	_
57	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	54	advcl	_	_
58	out	out	ADP	RP	_	57	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | dagger |  |  | a little boat; here |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into boat=Destination |
| 2 | **sleep** | past · progressive | the poor old boatman |  |  | a little boat |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in which=Location |
| 3 | **wake up** | past | boatman |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **see** | past | boatman *not said here* | the lovely Princess |  |  |  | with Princess's diamonds and Princess's spiders and web scarf | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer princess=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | boatman |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |
| 7 | **obey** | past |  | Princess |  |  |  | instantly *property* | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 8 | **command** | past | Princess | boatman |  |  |  |  | vn supervision-95.2.2-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 9 | **set out** | to-infinitive | Princess *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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