---
title: But no sooner was the breath out of his body, than the queen said to… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But no sooner was the breath out of his body, than the queen said to herself, “To promise is one thing, and to keep is quite another.” Who acts: queen. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 49

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But no sooner was the breath out of his body, than the queen said to herself, “To promise is one thing, and to keep is quite another.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** queen · **What happens:** be, say, promise, keep · **To what, where:** breath, body, queen, one thing, one, another · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (queen), 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:pg2435:20:49
# text = But no sooner was the breath out of his body, than the queen said to herself, “To promise is one thing, and to keep is quite another.”
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
3	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	out	out	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	To	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	promise	promise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	24	nummod	_	_
24	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
30	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the breath |  | promise's body |  | soon *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the queen |  | queen |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to herself=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **promise** *speech: promise* *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | one thing |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent thing=Theme |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **keep** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | another |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=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 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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