---
title: When the tales are found they are adapted to the needs of British ch… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the tales are found they are adapted to the needs of British children by various hands, the Editor doing little beyond guarding the interests of propriety, and toning down to mild reproofs the tortures inflicted on wicked stepmothers, and other naughty characters. Who acts: various hands, Edito
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 1, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the tales are found they are adapted to the needs of British children by various hands, the Editor doing little beyond guarding the interests of propriety, and toning down to mild reproofs the tortures inflicted on wicked stepmothers, and other naughty characters.

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**Who acts:** various hands, Editor · **What happens:** find, adapt, do, guard, tone down, inflict · **To what, where:** tales, needs, little, interests, mild reproofs, British children

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, 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 (various hands, Editor), 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:pg2435:1:8
# text = When the tales are found they are adapted to the needs of British children by various hands, the Editor doing little beyond guarding the interests of propriety, and toning down to mild reproofs the tortures inflicted on wicked stepmothers, and other naughty characters.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	adapted	adapt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	xcomp	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	needs	need	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	British	British	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	various	various	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Editor	editor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	parataxis	_	_
21	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	acl	_	_
22	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	obj	_	_
23	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
24	guarding	guard	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	interests	interest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	propriety	propriety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	toning	tone	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	21	conj	_	_
32	down	down	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	mild	mild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	reproofs	reproof	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	tortures	torture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	conj	_	_
38	inflicted	inflict	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	acl	_	_
39	on	on	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	stepmothers	stepmother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
44	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
45	naughty	naughty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	characters	character	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | present · passive |  | the tales |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 2 | **adapt** | present · passive | various hands | Tales *= tale* |  |  |  | to the needs of British children *goal* | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient to need=Goal |
| 3 | **do** | gerund | the Editor *not said here* | little |  |  |  | other naughty characters *obl* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent little=Eventuality |
| 4 | **guard** | gerund | the Editor *not said here* | the interests of propriety |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent interest=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **tone down** | gerund | the Editor *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to mild reproofs and the tortures; down *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **inflict** | participle |  | mild reproofs and the tortures *not said here* |  |  |  | on wicked stepmothers | tree rules |
| 7 | **need** |  |  | British children |  |  |  |  | nom need «state transitive»: of=patient |
| 8 | **interest** |  |  | propriety |  |  |  |  | nom interest «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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