---
title: Even when the ill-matched couple were presently blessed with childre… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Even when the ill-matched couple were presently blessed with children, his happiness was but short-lived, the savage temper of his quarrelsome wife seemed to blight them from the first, and they died like little kids in a cold winter. Who acts: savage temper, children. A sentence of «The Crimson Fai
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 16, sentence 24

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Even when the ill-matched couple were presently blessed with children, his happiness was but short-lived, the savage temper of his quarrelsome wife seemed to blight them from the first, and they died like little kids in a cold winter.

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**Who acts:** savage temper, children · **What happens:** match, bless, live, seem, blight, die · **To what, where:** matched couple, happiness, children, first, quarrelsome wife

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (savage temper, children), 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:pg2435:16:24
# text = Even when the ill-matched couple were presently blessed with children, his happiness was but short-lived, the savage temper of his quarrelsome wife seemed to blight them from the first, and they died like little kids in a cold winter.
1	Even	even	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	matched	match	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	couple	couple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
9	presently	presently	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	blessed	bless	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	happiness	happiness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	lived	live	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	savage	savage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	temper	temper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	quarrelsome	quarrelsome	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
29	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	blight	blight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	from	from	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
40	like	like	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	kids	kid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **match** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **bless** | past · passive |  | the matched couple |  |  |  | with children; presently *property* | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **live** | past · passive |  | Peter's happiness |  |  |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: subject=Location |
| 4 | **seem** | past | the savage temper of Peter's quarrelsome wife |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **blight** | to-infinitive | the savage temper of Peter's quarrelsome wife *not said here* | children *= child* |  | the first |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 6 | **die** | past | children *= child* |  |  |  | winter | like little kids | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 7 | **temper** |  |  | Peter's quarrelsome wife |  |  |  |  | nom temper «feeling 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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