--- title: ‘It is a strange story, your highness,’ said the cook, and told him… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: ‘It is a strange story, your highness,’ said the cook, and told him the whole matter, which surprised the duke so much that he sent for the dwarf and asked him many questions. Who acts: valet, cook, whole matter. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, p --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/27/128/) [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 Violet Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/) / [The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/27/) / 128 # The Violet Fairy Book, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2, sentence 128 ‘It is a strange story, your highness,’ said the cook, and told him the whole matter, which surprised the duke so much that he sent for the dwarf and asked him many questions. **Who acts:** valet, cook, whole matter · **What happens:** be, say, tell, surprise, send, ask · **To what, where:** strange story, whole matter, cook, duke, many questions · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, 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 (valet, cook, whole matter), 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:pg641:27:128 # text = ‘It is a strange story, your highness,’ said the cook, and told him the whole matter, which surprised the duke so much that he sent for the dwarf and asked him many questions. 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 strange strange ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 8 your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 highness highness NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 6 punct _ _ 12 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 cook cook NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 17 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 18 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 iobj _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 20 whole whole ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 matter matter NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 23 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 24 nsubj _ _ 24 surprised surprise VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 acl:relcl _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 duke duke NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 27 so so ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ _ 28 much much ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 29 that that SCONJ IN _ 31 mark _ _ 30 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 31 sent send VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 advcl _ _ 32 for for ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 dwarf dwarf NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 conj _ _ 37 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 iobj _ _ 38 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 questions question NOUN NNS Number=Plur 36 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | present | valet | a strange story and your highness | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the cook | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the cook *not said here* | the whole matter | cook | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient matter=Topic | | 4 | **surprise** | past | the whole matter | the duke | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus duke=Experiencer | | 5 | **send** | past | cook | | | | | for the dwarf | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the cook *not said here* | many questions | cook | | | | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 127](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/27/127/) - next →: [sentence 129](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/27/129/) - ↑ back to [The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/27/)