---
title: The queen, almost dumb with terror, in vain tried to think of some e… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The queen, almost dumb with terror, in vain tried to think of some explanation or apology; but there was none, and she could only confess her fault and implore forgiveness. Who acts: queen, none. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 22, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 22, sentence 68

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The queen, almost dumb with terror, in vain tried to think of some explanation or apology; but there was none, and she could only confess her fault and implore forgiveness.

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**Who acts:** queen, none · **What happens:** try, think, be, confess, implore, fault · **To what, where:** fault, forgiveness

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 22. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (queen, none), 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:pg3027:22:68
# text = The queen, almost dumb with terror, in vain tried to think of some explanation or apology; but there was none, and she could only confess her fault and implore forgiveness.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	dumb	dumb	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	terror	terror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
11	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	det	_	_
16	explanation	explanation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	apology	apology	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	22	expl	_	_
22	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
23	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
26	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	only	only	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	confess	confess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
30	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	fault	fault	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	implore	implore	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
34	forgiveness	forgiveness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | the queen |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the queen *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of some explanation or apology | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **be** | past | none |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **confess** | could | queen | queen's fault |  |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fault=Topic |
| 5 | **implore** | infinitive | queen *not said here* | forgiveness |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent forgiveness=Recipient |
| 6 | **fault** |  | queen |  |  |  |  |  | nom fault «act transitive»: poss=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 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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