--- title: In the meantime, the messenger was sitting with the lovely maiden, a… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: In the meantime, the messenger was sitting with the lovely maiden, and as no one came with the salad, and she wanted very much to taste it, she said, ‘I don’t know where the salad is.’ Who acts: messenger, I, salad. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 1, wi --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/10/89/) [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/) / 89 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 1, sentence 89 In the meantime, the messenger was sitting with the lovely maiden, and as no one came with the salad, and she wanted very much to taste it, she said, ‘I don’t know where the salad is.’ **Who acts:** messenger, I, salad · **What happens:** sit, come, want, taste, say, not know · **To what, where:** meantime, salad · **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 (messenger, I, salad), 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:pg640:10:89 # text = In the meantime, the messenger was sitting with the lovely maiden, and as no one came with the salad, and she wanted very much to taste it, she said, ‘I don’t know where the salad is.’ 1 In in ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 meantime meantime NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 messenger messenger NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 aux _ _ 8 sitting sit VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 33 ccomp _ _ 9 with with SCONJ IN _ 12 mark _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 11 lovely lovely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 maiden maiden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 15 as as ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 17 det _ _ 17 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ _ 18 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 parataxis _ _ 19 with with ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 salad salad NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 24 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 wanted want VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 conj _ _ 26 very very ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 27 much much ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ _ 28 to to PART TO _ 29 mark _ _ 29 taste taste VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 25 xcomp _ _ 30 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 32 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 35 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 36 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 37 do do AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 38 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 39 advmod _ _ 39 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 ccomp _ _ 40 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 39 ccomp _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 salad salad NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 43 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 40 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 33 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 ’ ' PUNCT NFP _ 33 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit** | past · progressive | the messenger | | | the meantime | | maiden *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in meantime=Location | | 2 | **come** | past | | | | | | as no one; with the salad | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **want** | past | messenger | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 4 | **taste** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | messenger *not said here* | salad | | | | | vn seem-109 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Theme it=Attribute | | 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | messenger | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | I | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 7 | **is** | present | the salad | | | | | where *property* | tree rules | 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 88](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/10/88/) - next →: [sentence 90](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/10/90/) - ↑ back to [The Donkey Cabbage, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/10/)