---
title: But this story was not true; she knew nothing about her mother, only… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But this story was not true; she knew nothing about her mother, only she wanted an excuse to go home and tell her family that their prophecies had come true, and that the buffalo was dead. Who acts: story, mother, prophecies, buffalo. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, pa
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 21, sentence 132

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But this story was not true; she knew nothing about her mother, only she wanted an excuse to go home and tell her family that their prophecies had come true, and that the buffalo was dead.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** story, mother, prophecies, buffalo · **What happens:** not be, know, want, go, tell, come · **To what, where:** nothing, excuse, family · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (story, mother, prophecies, buffalo), 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:pg3027:21:132
# text = But this story was not true; she knew nothing about her mother, only she wanted an excuse to go home and tell her family that their prophecies had come true, and that the buffalo was dead.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
10	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	9	obj	_	_
11	about	about	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	only	only	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
18	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	excuse	excuse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	acl	_	_
22	home	home	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	_
25	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	prophecies	prophecy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	ccomp	_	_
32	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
35	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	buffalo	buffalo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
39	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | this story |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | past | mother | nothing |  |  |  | about mother's mother | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 3 | **want** | past | mother | a excuse |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot excuse=Theme |
| 4 | **go** | to-infinitive | mother *not said here* | a excuse *not said here* |  |  |  | home *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | mother *not said here* | mother's family |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent family=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **come** | past · perfect | mountains's prophecies |  |  |  |  | true *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | past | the buffalo |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | 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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