---
title: ‘What is your will?’ it asked; and Ciccu replied that he had been co… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘What is your will?’ it asked; and Ciccu replied that he had been commanded to bring back the ring that the princess had flung away, as she rode past. Who acts: voice, Ciccu, princess. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 38, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 38, sentence 106

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘What is your will?’ it asked; and Ciccu replied that he had been commanded to bring back the ring that the princess had flung away, as she rode past.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** voice, Ciccu, princess · **What happens:** ask, reply, command, bring back, fling away, ride · **To what, where:** Ciccu, ring, princess · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (voice, Ciccu, princess), 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:pg5615:38:106
# text = ‘What is your will?’ it asked; and Ciccu replied that he had been commanded to bring back the ring that the princess had flung away, as she rode past.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	Ciccu	Ciccu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	commanded	command	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	ccomp	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	back	back	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	flung	fling	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	advcl	_	_
29	away	away	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	rode	ride	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
34	past	past	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | voice |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent what=Recipient |
| 2 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Ciccu |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **command** | past · perfect · passive |  | Ciccu |  |  |  |  | vn order-58.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **bring back** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | the ring |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent ring=Theme |
| 5 | **fling away** | past · perfect · passive |  | the princess |  |  |  | away *property* | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **ride** | past | princess |  |  |  |  | past *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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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