---
title: Not only were they very difficult to please about the housework, but… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Not only were they very difficult to please about the housework, but most women quickly tired of living alone with only cats for companions, consequently they never kept a servant long; and it had become a saying in the town, when anyone found herself reduced to her last penny: “I will go and live w
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 36, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Not only were they very difficult to please about the housework, but most women quickly tired of living alone with only cats for companions, consequently they never kept a servant long; and it had become a saying in the town, when anyone found herself reduced to her last penny: “I will go and live with the cats,” and so many a poor woman actually did.

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**Who acts:** beings, servant, anyone, tailor, parents, many · **What happens:** not be, please, live, not keep, become, find · **To what, where:** saying, tailor, last penny · **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 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (beings, servant, anyone, tailor), 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:pg2435:36:8
# text = Not only were they very difficult to please about the housework, but most women quickly tired of living alone with only cats for companions, consequently they never kept a servant long; and it had become a saying in the town, when anyone found herself reduced to her last penny: “I will go and live with the cats,” and so many a poor woman actually did.
1	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
2	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	please	please	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	csubj	_	_
9	about	about	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	housework	housework	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	15	amod	_	_
15	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
16	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	parataxis	_	_
18	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	living	live	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
20	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	only	only	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
24	for	for	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	companions	companion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	consequently	consequently	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl:unmarked	_	_
33	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	30	conj	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	saying	saying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	xcomp	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	47	advmod	_	_
46	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	47	nsubj	_	_
47	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	acl	_	_
48	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	47	obj	_	_
49	reduced	reduce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	xcomp	_	_
50	to	to	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
51	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
52	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
53	penny	penny	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	58	punct	_	_
55	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
57	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
58	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	parataxis	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
60	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	conj	_	_
61	with	with	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	58	punct	_	_
66	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	73	cc	_	_
67	so	so	ADV	RB	_	68	advmod	_	_
68	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	73	nsubj	_	_
69	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	71	det	_	_
70	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	71	amod	_	_
71	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	nsubj	_	_
72	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	73	advmod	_	_
73	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | beings *= being* |  |  |  |  | difficult *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **please** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | about the housework | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **live** | gerund | beings *= being* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with cats for companions; alone *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with cat=Location |
| 4 | **not** **keep** | past | beings *= being* |  |  |  |  | consequently, long *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **become** | past · perfect | servant | a saying in the town |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **find** | past | anyone | tailor |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent herself=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 7 | **reduce** | participle | tailor *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to tailor's last penny *goal* | vn limit-76 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer to penny=Goal |
| 8 | **go** *in a quote* | future | people's parents *= parent* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **live** *in a quote* | infinitive | people's parents *= parent* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the cats | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with cat=Location |
| 10 | **do** | past | many |  |  |  |  | actually *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: 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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