---
title: The next day, just as the princess had sat down to dinner, she heard… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The next day, just as the princess had sat down to dinner, she heard a strange noise--tap, tap--plash, plash--as if something was coming up the marble staircase: and soon afterwards there was a gentle knock at the door, and a little voice cried out and said: Who acts: princess, something, little voi
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Frog-prince, sentence 16

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The next day, just as the princess had sat down to dinner, she heard a strange noise--tap, tap--plash, plash--as if something was coming up the marble staircase: and soon afterwards there was a gentle knock at the door, and a little voice cried out and said:

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**Who acts:** princess, something, little voice · **What happens:** sit down, hear, come up, be, cry out, say · **To what, where:** princess, strange noise, marble staircase, gentle knock, door · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Frog-prince. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (princess, something, little voice), 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:pg2591:13:16
# text = The next day, just as the princess had sat down to dinner, she heard a strange noise--tap, tap--plash, plash--as if something was coming up the marble staircase: and soon afterwards there was a gentle knock at the door, and a little voice cried out and said:
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	as	as	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	sat	sit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
11	down	down	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	tap	tap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	tap	tap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	plash	plash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	plash	plash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
30	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
31	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	33	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	ccomp	_	_
34	up	up	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	marble	marble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
37	staircase	staircase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	46	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
40	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	43	advmod	_	_
41	afterwards	afterwards	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
42	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	43	expl	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	gentle	gentle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	knock	knock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
47	at	at	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
53	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nsubj	_	_
55	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
56	out	out	ADP	RP	_	55	compound:prt	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit down** | past · perfect · passive |  | the princess |  |  | day | to dinner | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | past | princess | a strange noise and tap and tap |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **come up** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · progressive | something | the marble staircase |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is a** | past |  | a gentle knock |  | the door |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **cry out** *speech: express* | past | a little voice |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | a little voice *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: 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:** «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 2591 (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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