--- title: Then the prince inquired why she was wandering about all by herself,… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Then the prince inquired why she was wandering about all by herself, and she told him that since her mother’s death she was so sad that whilst her father was away she preferred being alone. Who acts: prince, Signy, father, mother. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/30/44/) [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 Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/30/) / 44 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 30, sentence 44 Then the prince inquired why she was wandering about all by herself, and she told him that since her mother’s death she was so sad that whilst her father was away she preferred being alone. **Who acts:** prince, Signy, father, mother · **What happens:** inquire, wonder, tell, be, prefer, die · **To what, where:** Ring · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prince, Signy, father, mother), 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:pg3282:30:44 # text = Then the prince inquired why she was wandering about all by herself, and she told him that since her mother’s death she was so sad that whilst her father was away she preferred being alone. 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 4 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 prince prince NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 inquired inquire VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 8 advmod _ _ 6 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 aux _ _ 8 wandering wonder VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 advcl _ _ 9 about about ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 10 all all ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 11 by by ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 12 herself herself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 15 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 16 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 17 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 iobj _ _ 18 that that SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 19 since since ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 20 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 21 nmod:poss _ _ 21 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ’s 's PART POS _ 21 case _ _ 23 death death NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ _ 24 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 25 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 cop _ _ 26 so so ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 27 sad sad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 advcl _ _ 28 that that SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 29 whilst whilst SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 30 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 31 nmod:poss _ _ 31 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 nsubj _ _ 32 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 cop _ _ 33 away away ADV RB _ 35 advcl _ _ 34 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 preferred prefer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 advcl _ _ 36 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 37 cop _ _ 37 alone alone ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 38 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **inquire** *speech: other* | past | the prince | | | | then | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past · progressive | Signy | | | | | about Signy | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus what S»: agent=Experiencer about herself=Stimulus | | 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Signy | | Ring | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 4 | **is** | past | Signy | | | | since Signy's mother's death | sad *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **is** | past | Signy's father | | | | | away *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **prefer** | past | Signy | | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer | | 7 | **is** | gerund | | | | | | alone *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **die** | | Signy's mother | | | | | | nom death «event intransitive»: poss=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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/30/43/) - next →: [sentence 45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/30/45/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/30/)