---
title: The prince was sorely perplexed as to what could be the matter with… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The prince was sorely perplexed as to what could be the matter with her, for naturally he could not guess that she was expecting her mother to return every moment, and to remove the spell the doves had laid upon her, and meanwhile was afraid to speak lest she should betray herself. Who acts: length,
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 13, sentence 10

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The prince was sorely perplexed as to what could be the matter with her, for naturally he could not guess that she was expecting her mother to return every moment, and to remove the spell the doves had laid upon her, and meanwhile was afraid to speak lest she should betray herself.

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**Who acts:** length, bride, mother, spell · **What happens:** perplex, be, not guess, expect, return, remove · **To what, where:** prince, mother, spell, doves, bride · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (length, bride, mother, spell), 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:pg3027:13:10
# text = The prince was sorely perplexed as to what could be the matter with her, for naturally he could not guess that she was expecting her mother to return every moment, and to remove the spell the doves had laid upon her, and meanwhile was afraid to speak lest she should betray herself.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	sorely	sorely	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	perplexed	perplex	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	12	case	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	nsubj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	cop	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
17	naturally	naturally	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	guess	guess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	parataxis	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	expecting	expect	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	_
26	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
30	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	31	det	_	_
31	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	remove	remove	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	spell	spell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	doves	dove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	nsubj:pass	_	_
40	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	laid	lay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	acl:relcl	_	_
42	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
46	meanwhile	meanwhile	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
47	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	cop	_	_
48	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	conj	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	_
51	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
52	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	betray	betray	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	advcl	_	_
55	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	54	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **perplex** | past · passive |  | the prince |  |  |  | sorely *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | could |  |  |  |  |  | as the matter; with bride | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **guess** | could | length |  |  |  |  | naturally *property* | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **expect** | past · progressive | bride | bride's mother |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **return** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | bride's mother *not said here* |  |  |  | moment |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **remove** | to-infinitive |  | the spell |  |  |  |  | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spell=Theme |
| 7 | **lay** | past · perfect · passive | the spell *not said here* | the doves |  |  |  | upon bride | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon she=Destination |
| 8 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | afraid, meanwhile *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **speak** *speech: other* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **betray** | should | bride | bride |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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