--- title: He answered, ‘I am a messenger of the King, and have been sent to se… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: He answered, ‘I am a messenger of the King, and have been sent to seek the finest salad that grows under the sun. I have been so lucky as to find it, and am bringing it with me; but the heat of the sun is so great that the tender cabbage threatens to grow soft, and I do not know if I shall be able t --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/10/80/) [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 Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The Donkey Cabbage, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/10/) / 80 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 1, sentence 80 He answered, ‘I am a messenger of the King, and have been sent to seek the finest salad that grows under the sun. I have been so lucky as to find it, and am bringing it with me; but the heat of the sun is so great that the tender cabbage threatens to grow soft, and I do not know if I shall be able to bring it any farther.’ **Who acts:** Hunter, I, finest salad, heat, tender cabbage, sun · **What happens:** answer, be, send, seek, grow, find · **To what, where:** messenger, finest salad, sun., salad, heat · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, 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 (Hunter, I, finest salad, heat), 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:pg640:10:80 # text = He answered, ‘I am a messenger of the King, and have been sent to seek the finest salad that grows under the sun. I have been so lucky as to find it, and am bringing it with me; but the heat of the sun is so great that the tender cabbage threatens to grow soft, and I do not know if I shall be able to bring it any farther.’ 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 answered answer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 4 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 6 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 messenger messenger NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 ccomp _ _ 9 of of ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 14 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 16 aux _ _ 15 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 16 aux:pass _ _ 16 sent send VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 parataxis _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 seek seek VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 xcomp _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 20 finest fine ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 21 amod _ _ 21 salad salad NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ _ 22 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 23 nsubj _ _ 23 grows grow VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 21 acl:relcl _ _ 24 under under ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 sun. sun. NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 27 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 28 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 29 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 31 cop _ _ 30 so so ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 31 lucky lucky ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 obl _ _ 32 as as SCONJ IN _ 34 mark _ _ 33 to to PART TO _ 34 mark _ _ 34 find find VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 advcl _ _ 35 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 38 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 39 bringing bring VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 18 advcl _ _ 40 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 obj _ _ 41 with with ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 ; ; PUNCT , _ 52 punct _ _ 44 but but CCONJ CC _ 52 cc _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 heat heat NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 nsubj _ _ 47 of of ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 sun sun NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 nmod _ _ 50 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 52 cop _ _ 51 so so ADV RB _ 52 advmod _ _ 52 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 conj _ _ 53 that that SCONJ IN _ 57 mark _ _ 54 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 56 det _ _ 55 tender tender NOUN NN Number=Sing 56 compound _ _ 56 cabbage cabbage NOUN NN Number=Sing 57 nsubj _ _ 57 threatens threaten VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 52 advcl _ _ 58 to to PART TO _ 59 mark _ _ 59 grow grow VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 57 xcomp _ _ 60 soft soft ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 59 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 61 , , PUNCT , _ 66 punct _ _ 62 and and CCONJ CC _ 66 cc _ _ 63 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 66 nsubj _ _ 64 do do AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 66 aux _ _ 65 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 66 advmod _ _ 66 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 parataxis _ _ 67 if if SCONJ IN _ 71 mark _ _ 68 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 71 nsubj _ _ 69 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 71 aux _ _ 70 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 71 cop _ _ 71 able able ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 66 ccomp _ _ 72 to to PART TO _ 73 mark _ _ 73 bring bring VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 71 xcomp _ _ 74 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 73 obj _ _ 75 any any ADV RB _ 76 advmod _ _ 76 farther far ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 73 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 77 . . PUNCT . _ 66 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 78 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 66 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | Hunter | | | | | | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **is a** | present | I | a messenger | | | | of the King | tree rules | | 3 | **send** | present · perfect · passive | | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **seek** | to-infinitive | | the finest salad | | | | | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salad=Theme | | 5 | **grow** | present | the finest salad | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **is** | present · perfect | I | | | the sun. | | lucky *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **find** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | salad | | | | | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic | | 8 | **bring** | present · progressive | | salad | | | | with me | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 9 | **is** | present | the heat of the sun | | | | | great *property* | tree rules | | 10 | **threaten** | present | the tender cabbage | | | | | | tree rules | | 11 | **grow** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the tender cabbage *not said here* | | | | | soft *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 12 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | I | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 13 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | shall | I | | | | | able *property* | tree rules | | 14 | **bring** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | heat | | | | far *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 15 | **heat** | | the sun | | | | | | nom heat «phenomenon intransitive»: of=agent | 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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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 79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/10/79/) - next →: [sentence 81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/10/81/) - ↑ back to [The Donkey Cabbage, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/10/)