--- title: He also told her how he had been obliged to pledge his word to give… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: He also told her how he had been obliged to pledge his word to give the creature the first thing which met him outside his castle gate, and he felt very sad at the thought that she had been the first thing to meet him. Who acts: Jack, first thing, daughter. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by An --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/48/45/) [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/) / [Jack My Hedgehog](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/48/) / 45 # The Green Fairy Book, Jack My Hedgehog, sentence 45 He also told her how he had been obliged to pledge his word to give the creature the first thing which met him outside his castle gate, and he felt very sad at the thought that she had been the first thing to meet him. **Who acts:** Jack, first thing, daughter · **What happens:** tell, oblige, pledge, give, meet, feel · **To what, where:** daughter, Jack, word, creature, thought, first thing · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Jack My Hedgehog. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Jack, first thing, daughter), 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:pg7277:48:45 # text = He also told her how he had been obliged to pledge his word to give the creature the first thing which met him outside his castle gate, and he felt very sad at the thought that she had been the first thing to meet him. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 also also ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 3 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 iobj _ _ 5 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 9 advmod _ _ 6 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 7 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 8 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 9 aux:pass _ _ 9 obliged oblige VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 ccomp _ _ 10 to to PART TO _ 11 mark _ _ 11 pledge pledge VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 xcomp _ _ 12 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ _ 13 word word NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 xcomp _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 creature creature NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 first first ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 20 amod _ _ 20 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ _ 21 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 22 nsubj _ _ 22 met meet VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 acl:relcl _ _ 23 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 obj _ _ 24 outside outside ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 25 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 26 castle castle NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 compound _ _ 27 gate gate NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 30 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 31 felt feel VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 32 very very ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 33 sad sad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 xcomp _ _ 34 at at ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 thought thought NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 37 that that SCONJ IN _ 43 mark _ _ 38 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 39 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 aux _ _ 40 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 43 cop _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 42 first first ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 43 amod _ _ 43 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 advcl _ _ 44 to to PART TO _ 45 mark _ _ 45 meet meet VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 43 acl _ _ 46 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Jack | | daughter | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic | | 2 | **oblige** | past · perfect · passive | | Jack | | | | | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result | | 3 | **pledge** | to-infinitive | | Jack's word | | | | | vn promise-37.13 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent word=Recipient clause=Topic | | 4 | **give** | to-infinitive | | the creature | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent creature=Recipient thing=Theme | | 5 | **meet** | past | the first thing | Jack | | | | outside Jack's castle gate | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Co-Agent | | 6 | **feel** | past | Jack | | | the thought | | sad *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus | | 7 | **is a** | past · perfect | daughter | the first thing | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **meet** | to-infinitive | Jack *not said here* | Jack | | | | | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Co-Agent | | 9 | **word** | | Jack | | | | | | nom word «communication 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: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/48/44/) - next →: [sentence 46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/48/46/) - ↑ back to [Jack My Hedgehog](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/48/)