---
title: The fairies also did their best to soften the wrath of their sister,… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The fairies also did their best to soften the wrath of their sister, and knowing that, like many plain people who are not fairies, she was very vain, they entreated her to drop her crab's disguise, and to become once more the charming person they were accustomed to see. Who acts: fairies, many plain
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 22, sentence 69

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fairies also did their best to soften the wrath of their sister, and knowing that, like many plain people who are not fairies, she was very vain, they entreated her to drop her crab's disguise, and to become once more the charming person they were accustomed to see.

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**Who acts:** fairies, many plain people, queen · **What happens:** do, soften, know, not be, be, entreat · **To what, where:** best, wrath, fairies, queen, disguise

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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 (fairies, many plain people, queen), 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:pg3027:22:69
# text = The fairies also did their best to soften the wrath of their sister, and knowing that, like many plain people who are not fairies, she was very vain, they entreated her to drop her crab's disguise, and to become once more the charming person they were accustomed to see.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fairies	fairy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	also	also	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	soften	soften	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	wrath	wrath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	like	like	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
21	plain	plain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
24	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	fairies	fairy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
30	very	very	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	entreated	entreat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	parataxis	_	_
35	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	drop	drop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
38	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	's	's	PART	POS	_	39	case	_	_
41	disguise	disguise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	conj	_	_
46	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	47	advmod	_	_
47	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	45	advmod	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	charming	charming	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	compound	_	_
50	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
51	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
52	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	aux:pass	_	_
53	accustomed	accustom	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	50	acl:relcl	_	_
54	to	to	PART	TO	_	55	mark	_	_
55	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | the fairies | fairies's best |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Eventuality |
| 2 | **soften** | to-infinitive | the fairies *not said here* | the wrath of fairies's sister |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent wrath=Patient |
| 3 | **know** | gerund | the fairies *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **not** **is a** | present | many plain people | fairies |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | queen |  |  |  |  | vain *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **entreat** | past | fairies *= fairy* | queen |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **drop** | to-infinitive | fairies *= fairy* *not said here* | queen's crab's disguise |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent disguise=Theme |
| 8 | **become** | to-infinitive | fairies *= fairy* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 9 | **accustom** | past · passive |  | fairies *= fairy* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **see** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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