--- title: Neither the King, the Queen, nor the Princess could in the least und… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Neither the King, the Queen, nor the Princess could in the least understand the amazing conduct of Brandatimor’s Ambassador; nevertheless the preparations for the war went forward briskly and all the Princes who had not gone on towards the Ice Mountain offered their services, at the same time demand --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/17/1/) [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 Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/) / [Heart of Ice, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/17/) / 1 # The Green Fairy Book, Heart of Ice, part 4, sentence 1 Neither the King, the Queen, nor the Princess could in the least understand the amazing conduct of Brandatimor’s Ambassador; nevertheless the preparations for the war went forward briskly and all the Princes who had not gone on towards the Ice Mountain offered their services, at the same time demanding all the best appointments in the King’s army. **Who acts:** King, preparations, Princes, same time · **What happens:** understand, go, not go, offer, demand, conduct · **To what, where:** amazing conduct, Ice Mountain, services, best appointments, army, Ambassador This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Heart of Ice, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, preparations, Princes, same time), 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:pg7277:17:1 # text = Neither the King, the Queen, nor the Princess could in the least understand the amazing conduct of Brandatimor’s Ambassador; nevertheless the preparations for the war went forward briskly and all the Princes who had not gone on towards the Ice Mountain offered their services, at the same time demanding all the best appointments in the King’s army. 1 Neither neither CCONJ CC Polarity=Neg 15 cc:preconj _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 15 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 Queen Queen PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 8 nor nor CCONJ CC Polarity=Neg 11 cc _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 Princess Princess PROPN NNP Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _ 11 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 12 in in SCONJ IN _ 15 mark _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 least least ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 15 nsubj _ _ 15 understand understand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 17 amazing amazing ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 amod _ _ 18 conduct conduct NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ _ 19 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 20 Brandatimor Brandatimor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 22 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ’s 's PART POS _ 20 case _ _ 22 Ambassador Ambassador PROPN NNP Number=Sing 18 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ; ; PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 24 nevertheless nevertheless ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 preparations preparation NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 nsubj _ _ 27 for for ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 war war NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nmod _ _ 30 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 parataxis _ _ 31 forward forward ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 32 briskly briskly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 xcomp _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 34 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 36 det:predet _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 Princes prince NOUN NNS Number=Plur 46 nsubj _ _ 37 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 40 nsubj _ _ 38 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 39 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 40 advmod _ _ 40 gone go VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 36 acl:relcl _ _ 41 on on ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 42 towards towards ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 44 Ice Ice PROPN NNP Number=Sing 45 compound _ _ 45 Mountain Mountain PROPN NNP Number=Sing 40 obl _ _ 46 offered offer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 conj _ _ 47 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 48 nmod:poss _ _ 48 services service NOUN NNS Number=Plur 46 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 49 , , PUNCT , _ 53 punct _ _ 50 at at ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 51 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 52 same same ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 53 amod _ _ 53 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obl _ _ 54 demanding demand VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 53 acl _ _ 55 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 58 det:predet _ _ 56 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 58 det _ _ 57 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 58 amod _ _ 58 appointments appointment NOUN NNS Number=Plur 54 obj _ _ 59 in in ADP IN _ 63 case _ _ 60 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 61 det _ _ 61 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 63 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 62 ’s 's PART POS _ 61 case _ _ 63 army army NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 64 . . PUNCT . _ 15 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **understand** | could | the King and the Queen | the amazing conduct of Brandatimor's Ambassador | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer conduct=Stimulus | | 2 | **go** | past | the preparations for the war | | | | | briskly, forward, nevertheless *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **not** **go** | past · perfect | all Princes | | | the Ice Mountain | | | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on mountain=Location | | 4 | **offer** | past | all Princes | Princes's services | | | time | | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent service=Theme | | 5 | **demand** *speech: request* | gerund | the same time *not said here* | all best appointments | | the King's army | | | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme appointment=Precondition | | 6 | **conduct** | | | Brandatimor's Ambassador | | | | | nom conduct «act transitive»: of=patient | | 7 | **service** | | Princes *= prince* | | | | | | nom service «act transitive»: poss=agent | 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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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: [Heart of Ice, part 3, 75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/16/75/) - next →: [sentence 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/17/2/) - ↑ back to [Heart of Ice, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/17/)