---
title: It was covered, and neither the servant nor anyone else had any idea… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was covered, and neither the servant nor anyone else had any idea what was on it, for the King never removed the cover or partook of the dish, till he was quite alone. Who acts: servant, idea, King. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Snake, with its dependency tree and
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The White Snake, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was covered, and neither the servant nor anyone else had any idea what was on it, for the King never removed the cover or partook of the dish, till he was quite alone.

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**Who acts:** servant, idea, King · **What happens:** cover, have, be, not remove, partake · **To what, where:** servant, idea, cover

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Snake. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (servant, idea, King), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg7277:50:5
# text = It was covered, and neither the servant nor anyone else had any idea what was on it, for the King never removed the cover or partook of the dish, till he was quite alone.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
6	neither	neither	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
9	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	10	cc	_	_
10	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	8	conj	_	_
11	else	else	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
13	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	14	det	_	_
14	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	18	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
23	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	removed	remove	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	cover	cover	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	partook	partake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	dish	dish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
36	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cover** | past · passive |  | servant |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Destination |
| 2 | **have** | past | the servant | any idea |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent idea=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | past | any idea |  |  | idea |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **remove** | past | the King | the cover |  |  |  |  | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cover=Theme |
| 5 | **partake** | past | the King *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of the dish | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | past | King |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 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.

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