---
title: The three tailors arrived at Court, where they had themselves duly p… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The three tailors arrived at Court, where they had themselves duly presented to the Princess, and begged she would propound her riddles, ‘for,’ said they, ‘here were the right men at last, with wits so sharp and so fine you might almost thread a needle with them.’ Who acts: three tailors, tailors, w
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Story of a Clever Tailor, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The three tailors arrived at Court, where they had themselves duly presented to the Princess, and begged she would propound her riddles, ‘for,’ said they, ‘here were the right men at last, with wits so sharp and so fine you might almost thread a needle with them.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** three tailors, tailors, world, you · **What happens:** arrive, have, present, beg, propound, say · **To what, where:** Court, tailors, Princess, riddles, right men, last · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of a Clever Tailor. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (three tailors, tailors, world, you), 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:pg7277:51:8
# text = The three tailors arrived at Court, where they had themselves duly presented to the Princess, and begged she would propound her riddles, ‘for,’ said they, ‘here were the right men at last, with wits so sharp and so fine you might almost thread a needle with them.’
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	tailors	tailor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	Court	Court	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	10	advmod	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	10	obj	_	_
12	duly	duly	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	presented	present	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
20	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	propound	propound	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
23	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	riddles	riddle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	‘	‘	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	27	punct	_	_
30	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
33	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	38	advmod	_	_
35	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	ccomp	_	_
39	at	at	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	with	with	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	wits	wit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	parataxis	_	_
44	so	so	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
47	so	so	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	conj	_	_
49	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
50	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
51	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
52	thread	thread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	parataxis	_	_
53	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	needle	needle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
55	with	with	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	43	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | past | the three tailors |  |  | Court |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | past | tailors *= tailor* | tailors *= tailor* |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Patient |
| 3 | **present** | past | tailors *= tailor* *not said here* |  | the Princess |  |  | duly *property* | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to princess=Recipient |
| 4 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | the three tailors *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **propound** | would | world | world's riddles |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the three tailors *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is a** | past | tailors *= tailor* | the right men |  | last; here |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **thread** | might | you |  |  |  |  | almost *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **riddle** |  | world |  |  |  |  |  | nom riddle «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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