---
title: It is the custom for a trader in merchandise to be summoned hither a… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It is the custom for a trader in merchandise to be summoned hither and thither, and who knows where one may find a buyer?’ Who acts: answer, custom, one. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of a Gazelle, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Story of a Gazelle, sentence 12

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It is the custom for a trader in merchandise to be summoned hither and thither, and who knows where one may find a buyer?’

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**Who acts:** answer, custom, one · **What happens:** be, summon, know, find · **To what, where:** custom, buyer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of a Gazelle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (answer, custom, one), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg641:15:12
# text = It is the custom for a trader in merchandise to be summoned hither and thither, and who knows where one may find a buyer?’
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	trader	trader	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	merchandise	merchandise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	summoned	summon	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl:relcl	_	_
13	hither	hither	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	thither	thither	ADV	RB	_	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
19	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
20	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	23	advmod	_	_
21	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	nsubj	_	_
22	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	buyer	buyer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | answer | the custom |  |  |  | for a trader in merchandise | tree rules |
| 2 | **summon** | to-infinitive · passive | answer *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hither *property* | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP» |
| 3 | **know** | present | the custom |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **find** | may | one | a buyer |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent buyer=Topic |

<!-- .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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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