---
title: One day, as the princesses were talking with their father, the young… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: One day, as the princesses were talking with their father, the younger one asked him whether it might not have been their servant who had helped him so much. Who acts: princesses, talking, apple, servant. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 3, with its
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 3, sentence 57

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One day, as the princesses were talking with their father, the younger one asked him whether it might not have been their servant who had helped him so much.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** princesses, talking, apple, servant · **What happens:** talk, ask, not be, help · **To what, where:** king, servant · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (princesses, talking, apple, servant), 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:pg2435:3:57
# text = One day, as the princesses were talking with their father, the younger one asked him whether it might not have been their servant who had helped him so much.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
4	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	princesses	princess	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	csubj	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	younger	young	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	15	amod	_	_
15	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	_
16	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	iobj	_	_
18	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
20	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
22	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	aux	_	_
23	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	25	cop	_	_
24	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	ccomp	_	_
26	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	helped	help	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	25	acl:relcl	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	so	so	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	much	much	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | past · progressive | the princesses |  |  |  |  | with princesses's father | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with father=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | talking |  | king |  | day |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 3 | **not** **is a** | might · perfect | apple | princesses's servant |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **help** | past · perfect | princesses's servant |  | king |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |

<!-- .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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