---
title: He opened the big gate leading into the courtyard, and was just goin… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He opened the big gate leading into the courtyard, and was just going to walk in, when seven dragons rushed on him and asked him what he wanted? Who acts: Prince, big gate. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Flower Queen’s Daughter(23), with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Flower Queen’s Daughter(23), sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He opened the big gate leading into the courtyard, and was just going to walk in, when seven dragons rushed on him and asked him what he wanted?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Prince, big gate · **What happens:** open, lead, go, walk in, rush, ask · **To what, where:** big gate, courtyard, seven dragons, Prince · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Flower Queen’s Daughter(23). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Prince, big gate), 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:pg640:34:38
# text = He opened the big gate leading into the courtyard, and was just going to walk in, when seven dragons rushed on him and asked him what he wanted?
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	leading	lead	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	courtyard	courtyard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	just	just	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	in	in	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
20	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
22	rushed	rush	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	iobj	_	_
28	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	30	obj	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **open** | past | Prince | the big gate |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location gate=Theme |
| 2 | **lead** | gerund | the big gate *not said here* |  |  | the courtyard |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent into courtyard=Destination |
| 3 | **go** | past · progressive | Prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **walk in** | to-infinitive | Prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **rush** | participle |  | seven dragons *not said here* |  |  |  | on Prince | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on he=Trajectory |
| 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Prince *not said here* |  | Prince |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **want** | past | Prince |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot what=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 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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