---
title: But no sooner had she tasted it than she put her spoon down, and dec… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But no sooner had she tasted it than she put her spoon down, and declared that her daughter must have been meddling with it, for it was impossible to eat anything that was all made of salt. Who acts: witch, daughter. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 16, with its de
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 16, sentence 75

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But no sooner had she tasted it than she put her spoon down, and declared that her daughter must have been meddling with it, for it was impossible to eat anything that was all made of salt.

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**Who acts:** witch, daughter · **What happens:** have, taste, put down, declare, meddle, be · **To what, where:** pot, spoon, anything

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (witch, daughter), 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:pg3027:16:75
# text = But no sooner had she tasted it than she put her spoon down, and declared that her daughter must have been meddling with it, for it was impossible to eat anything that was all made of salt.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
3	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	tasted	taste	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	spoon	spoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	down	down	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	declared	declare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
18	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
20	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
21	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	aux	_	_
22	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	23	aux	_	_
23	meddling	meddle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
24	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	expl	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	32	obj	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	37	obl	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux:pass	_	_
36	all	all	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	acl:relcl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | witch *not said here* |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **taste** | past | witch | pot |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Theme it=Attribute |
| 3 | **put down** | past | witch | witch's spoon |  |  |  | down *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent spoon=Goal |
| 4 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | witch *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **meddle** | must · perfect · progressive | witch's daughter |  |  |  |  | with pot | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | past | witch's daughter *not said here* |  |  |  |  | impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **eat** | to-infinitive | witch's daughter *not said here* | anything |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Patient |
| 8 | **make** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | of salt; all *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP» |

<!-- .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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