---
title: His first act was to seek the Fairy under whose protection he had be… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: His first act was to seek the Fairy under whose protection he had been placed, and he implored her to give him all the assistance of her art and counsel in this important matter. Who acts: first act, King. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, How Six Men Travelled Through the Wide W
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, How Six Men Travelled Through the Wide World, part 2, sentence 31

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His first act was to seek the Fairy under whose protection he had been placed, and he implored her to give him all the assistance of her art and counsel in this important matter.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** first act, King · **What happens:** be, place, implore, give, act, assist · **To what, where:** protection, King, Fairy, assistance, important matter, art

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, How Six Men Travelled Through the Wide World, 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 (first act, King), 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:pg640:20:31
# text = His first act was to seek the Fairy under whose protection he had been placed, and he implored her to give him all the assistance of her art and counsel in this important matter.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	act	act	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	seek	seek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	under	under	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	protection	protection	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	implored	implore	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
20	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	iobj	_	_
24	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	26	det:predet	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	assistance	assistance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	art	art	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	counsel	counsel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	35	det	_	_
34	important	important	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | King's first act |  |  | protection |  | seek *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **place** | past · perfect · passive |  | King |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **implore** | past | King | Fairy |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **give** | to-infinitive | King *not said here* | all assistance of Queen's art and counsel | King | this important matter |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient assistance=Theme |
| 5 | **act** |  | King |  |  |  |  |  | nom act «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |
| 6 | **assist** |  |  | Queen's art |  |  |  |  | nom assistance «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 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.

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