---
title: She felt inclined to laugh—the idea was so absurd; but she was kind-… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: She felt inclined to laugh—the idea was so absurd; but she was kind-hearted and polite, so she looked as grave as she could, and answered: Who acts: woman, idea. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, sentence 90

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She felt inclined to laugh—the idea was so absurd; but she was kind-hearted and polite, so she looked as grave as she could, and answered:

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**Who acts:** woman, idea · **What happens:** feel, laugh, be, look, answer

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman, idea), 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:pg3282:11:90
# text = She felt inclined to laugh—the idea was so absurd; but she was kind-hearted and polite, so she looked as grave as she could, and answered:
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	inclined	inclined	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	laugh	laugh	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	absurd	absurd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	hearted	hearted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	polite	polite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
25	as	as	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	grave	grave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	xcomp	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | past | woman |  |  |  |  | inclined *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **laugh** | to-infinitive | woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | the idea |  |  |  |  | absurd *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | woman |  |  |  |  | hearted *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  | woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **look** | past | woman |  |  |  |  | grave *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 7 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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