---
title: He could not brandish the sword; so the Princess said that he was to… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He could not brandish the sword; so the Princess said that he was to take a draught from the flask which hung by its side, and when he had done that he could wield the sword. Who acts: Halvor, Princess, flask. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Soria Moria Castle, with its dependency
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Soria Moria Castle, sentence 51

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He could not brandish the sword; so the Princess said that he was to take a draught from the flask which hung by its side, and when he had done that he could wield the sword.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Halvor, Princess, flask · **What happens:** not brandish, say, be, hang, do, wield · **To what, where:** sword, flask · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Soria Moria Castle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Halvor, Princess, flask), 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:pg540:6:51
# text = He could not brandish the sword; so the Princess said that he was to take a draught from the flask which hung by its side, and when he had done that he could wield the sword.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	brandish	brandish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	draught	draught	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	from	from	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	flask	flask	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
23	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	by	by	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
29	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	parataxis	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	wield	wield	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	advcl	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **brandish** | could | Halvor | the sword |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Princess |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is** | past | Halvor |  |  | the flask |  | take *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **hang** | past | the flask |  |  |  |  | by sword's side | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by side=Location |
| 5 | **do** | past · perfect | Halvor |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **wield** | could | Halvor | the sword |  |  |  |  | vn hold-15.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=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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