---
title: ‘My very humble thanks,’ replied the Grand Vizier, as he bent his lo… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘My very humble thanks,’ replied the Grand Vizier, as he bent his long neck; ‘but, if I may venture to say so, your Highness is even handsomer as a stork than as a Caliph. Who acts: Vizier, I, Highness. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Caliph Stork, with its dependen
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Story of Caliph Stork, sentence 57

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‘My very humble thanks,’ replied the Grand Vizier, as he bent his long neck; ‘but, if I may venture to say so, your Highness is even handsomer as a stork than as a Caliph.

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**Who acts:** Vizier, I, Highness · **What happens:** reply, bend, venture, say, be · **To what, where:** humble thanks, long neck · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

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**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:pg7277:7:57
# text = ‘My very humble thanks,’ replied the Grand Vizier, as he bent his long neck; ‘but, if I may venture to say so, your Highness is even handsomer as a stork than as a Caliph.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	humble	humble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	thanks	thanks	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
8	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	Grand	Grand	ADJ	NNP	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	Vizier	Vizier	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	bent	bend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
17	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
20	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	venture	venture	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	Highness	highness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
33	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
34	even	even	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	handsomer	handsome	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	28	parataxis	_	_
36	as	as	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	stork	stork	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	than	than	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	as	as	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past |  | My humble thanks |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent vizier=Topic |
| 2 | **bend** | past | Vizier | Vizier's long neck |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent neck=Material |
| 3 | **venture** *a condition, not said to happen* | may | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | present | your Highness |  |  |  |  | as a stork; than a Caliph; handsome *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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