--- title: The courtiers could not help seeing that what they had told the King… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The courtiers could not help seeing that what they had told the King did not please him, and one of them cunningly began to praise Fiordelisa, when he could talk to the King without being heard by the others. Who acts: courtiers, King, one, Fiordelisa. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/2/49/) [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/) / [The Blue Bird, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/2/) / 49 # The Green Fairy Book, The Blue Bird, part 1, sentence 49 The courtiers could not help seeing that what they had told the King did not please him, and one of them cunningly began to praise Fiordelisa, when he could talk to the King without being heard by the others. **Who acts:** courtiers, King, one, Fiordelisa, others · **What happens:** not help, see, tell, not please, begin, praise · **To what, where:** courtiers, Sire · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Blue Bird, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (courtiers, King, one, Fiordelisa), 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:pg7277:2:49 # text = The courtiers could not help seeing that what they had told the King did not please him, and one of them cunningly began to praise Fiordelisa, when he could talk to the King without being heard by the others. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 courtiers courtier NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 nsubj _ _ 3 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 4 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 5 help help VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 6 seeing see VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 5 xcomp _ _ 7 that that SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 8 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 11 obj _ _ 9 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj:pass _ _ 10 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 aux _ _ 11 told tell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 6 advcl _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 nsubj _ _ 14 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 aux _ _ 15 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 16 advmod _ _ 16 please please VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 ccomp _ _ 17 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 20 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 24 nsubj _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 22 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nmod _ _ 23 cunningly cunningly ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 24 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 praise praise VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 xcomp _ _ 27 Fiordelisa Fiordelisa PROPN NNP Number=Sing 32 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 29 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 32 advmod _ _ 30 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 31 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 32 talk talk VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 ccomp _ _ 33 to to ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 King King PROPN NNP Number=Sing 32 obl _ _ 36 without without SCONJ IN _ 38 mark _ _ 37 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 38 aux:pass _ _ 38 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 32 advcl _ _ 39 by by ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 others other NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **help** | could | the courtiers | | | | | | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 2 | **see** *not said to happen* | gerund | the courtiers *not said here* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · perfect · passive | | courtiers *= courtier* | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **not** **please** | past · do-support | the King | Sire | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer | | 5 | **begin** | past | one of courtiers | | | | | cunningly *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 6 | **praise** | to-infinitive | one of courtiers *not said here* | | | | | | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute | | 7 | **talk** | could | Fiordelisa | | | | | to the King | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to king=Co-Agent | | 8 | **hear** | gerund · passive | the others | | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer | 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: [sentence 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/2/48/) - next →: [sentence 50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/2/50/) - ↑ back to [The Blue Bird, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/2/)