---
title: The girls were so much delighted with the kindness and cleverness of… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The girls were so much delighted with the kindness and cleverness of their hosts that, when the birds inquired if they would marry them and stay there for ever, they accepted without so much as giving it a second thought. Who acts: girls, birds. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, 
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 26, sentence 87

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The girls were so much delighted with the kindness and cleverness of their hosts that, when the birds inquired if they would marry them and stay there for ever, they accepted without so much as giving it a second thought.

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**Who acts:** girls, birds · **What happens:** be, inquire, marry, stay, accept, give · **To what, where:** hosts, much, cleverness

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (girls, birds), 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:pg3027:26:87
# text = The girls were so much delighted with the kindness and cleverness of their hosts that, when the birds inquired if they would marry them and stay there for ever, they accepted without so much as giving it a second thought.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	much	much	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	delighted	delighted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	kindness	kindness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	cleverness	cleverness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	hosts	host	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nsubj	_	_
20	inquired	inquire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	advcl	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	conj	_	_
28	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	27	advmod	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	accepted	accept	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
34	without	without	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	so	so	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	obj	_	_
37	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
38	giving	give	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	advcl	_	_
39	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	42	amod	_	_
42	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the girls |  |  |  |  | with the kindness and cleverness of kindness's hosts; delighted *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **inquire** *speech: other* | participle | the birds |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **marry** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | birds *= bird* | hosts *= host* |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 4 | **stay** | infinitive | birds *= bird* *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **accept** | past | birds *= bird* | much |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent much=Theme |
| 6 | **give** | gerund | birds *= bird* *not said here* | cleverness |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent it=Recipient thought=Theme |

<!-- .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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