---
title: As she was an only child, and very pretty besides, they never could… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: As she was an only child, and very pretty besides, they never could make up their minds to punish her for her faults or to teach her nice manners; and as for work-- she laughed in her mother's face if she asked her to help cook the dinner or to wash the plates. Who acts: woman, words. A sentence of 
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 24, sentence 110

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As she was an only child, and very pretty besides, they never could make up their minds to punish her for her faults or to teach her nice manners; and as for work-- she laughed in her mother's face if she asked her to help cook the dinner or to wash the plates.

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**Who acts:** woman, words · **What happens:** be, not make up, punish, teach, laugh, ask · **To what, where:** only child, minds, woman, nice manners, work, face

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman, words), 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:pg3027:24:110
# text = As she was an only child, and very pretty besides, they never could make up their minds to punish her for her faults or to teach her nice manners; and as for work-- she laughed in her mother's face if she asked her to help cook the dinner or to wash the plates.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	pretty	pretty	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	besides	besides	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
17	up	up	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	_
18	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	minds	mind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	punish	punish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
22	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	faults	fault	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	teach	teach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	_
29	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
30	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	manners	manners	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	36	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	as	as	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
35	for	for	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	acl:relcl	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
41	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	's	's	PART	POS	_	42	case	_	_
44	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
45	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
46	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	advcl	_	_
48	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	iobj	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	xcomp	_	_
51	cook	cook	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	xcomp	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	_
54	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
55	to	to	PART	TO	_	56	mark	_	_
56	wash	wash	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	conj	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	plates	plate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | woman | a only child |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **make up** | could | words *= word* | words's minds |  |  |  | besides *property* | vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme mind=Pivot |
| 3 | **punish** | to-infinitive | words *= word* *not said here* | woman |  |  |  | for woman's faults | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent she=Patient for fault=Theme |
| 4 | **teach** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | words *= word* *not said here* | woman's nice manners |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent manners=Recipient |
| 5 | **laugh** | past | woman | work *not said here* |  | woman's mother's face |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Theme |
| 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* *a condition, not said to happen* | past | woman |  | mother |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 7 | **help** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 8 | **cook** *not said to happen* | infinitive | woman *not said here* | the dinner |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent dinner=Patient |
| 9 | **wash** | to-infinitive | woman *not said here* | the plates |  |  |  |  | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent plate=Patient |
| 10 | **mind** |  | words *= word* |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |
| 11 | **fault** |  | woman |  |  |  |  |  | nom fault «act transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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