--- title: Even the mothers who had daughters of their own could not help allow… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Even the mothers who had daughters of their own could not help allowing that the princess was much more beautiful and graceful than any of them; and, as for the fathers, if one of them ever beheld her by accident he could talk of nothing else for a whole day afterwards. Who acts: mothers, daughters, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/37/14/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Orange Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/) / [Opening, part 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/37/) / 14 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 37, sentence 14 Even the mothers who had daughters of their own could not help allowing that the princess was much more beautiful and graceful than any of them; and, as for the fathers, if one of them ever beheld her by accident he could talk of nothing else for a whole day afterwards. **Who acts:** mothers, daughters, princess, one, king · **What happens:** have, not help, allow, be, behold, talk · **To what, where:** daughter This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 37. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mothers, daughters, princess, one), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3027:37:14 # text = Even the mothers who had daughters of their own could not help allowing that the princess was much more beautiful and graceful than any of them; and, as for the fathers, if one of them ever beheld her by accident he could talk of nothing else for a whole day afterwards. 1 Even even ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 mothers mother NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 nsubj _ _ 4 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 5 nsubj _ _ 5 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 daughters daughter NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 nsubj _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 own own ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 nmod _ _ 10 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 12 aux _ _ 11 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 12 advmod _ _ 12 help help VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 ccomp _ _ 13 allowing allow VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 12 xcomp _ _ 14 that that SCONJ IN _ 20 mark _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 princess princess NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nsubj _ _ 17 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 cop _ _ 18 much much ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 19 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 20 advmod _ _ 20 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 ccomp _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 graceful graceful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 conj _ _ 23 than than ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 22 obl _ _ 25 of of ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 26 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ; ; PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 30 as as ADP IN ExtPos=ADP 33 case _ _ 31 for for ADP IN _ 30 fixed _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 fathers father NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 35 if if SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 36 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 40 nsubj _ _ 37 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nmod _ _ 39 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 40 advmod _ _ 40 beheld behold VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 41 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obj _ _ 42 by by ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 accident accident NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obl _ _ 44 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 nsubj _ _ 45 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 46 aux _ _ 46 talk talk VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 40 advcl _ _ 47 of of ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 48 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 46 obl _ _ 49 else else ADV RB _ 48 advmod _ _ 50 for for ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 51 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 52 whole whole ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 53 amod _ _ 53 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obl _ _ 54 afterwards afterwards ADV RB _ 46 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 55 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** | past | the mothers | | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **not** **help** | could | daughters of mothers's own | | | | | | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 3 | **allow** *not said to happen* | gerund | daughters of mothers's own *not said here* | | | | | | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Causer | | 4 | **is** | past | the princess | | | | | beautiful *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **be** | | the princess *not said here* | | | | | than any | tree rules | | 6 | **behold** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | one of mothers | daughter | | | ever | as the fathers | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus | | 7 | **talk** | could | king | | | | day | by accident; of nothing; afterwards *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/37/13/) - next →: [sentence 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/37/15/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/37/)