---
title: They broke above a dozen laces in trying to be laced up close, that… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They broke above a dozen laces in trying to be laced up close, that they might have a fine slender shape, and they were continually at their looking-glass. Who acts: amends. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They broke above a dozen laces in trying to be laced up close, that they might have a fine slender shape, and they were continually at their looking-glass.

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**Who acts:** amends · **What happens:** break, try, lace up, have, look, be · **To what, where:** dozen laces, fine slender shape, looking glass

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (amends), 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:pg503:11:23
# text = They broke above a dozen laces in trying to be laced up close, that they might have a fine slender shape, and they were continually at their looking-glass.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	above	above	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	dozen	dozen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	laces	lace	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
10	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	laced	lace	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	xcomp	_	_
12	up	up	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	close	close	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
20	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
21	slender	slender	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
27	continually	continually	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
28	at	at	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
30	looking	look	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	32	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | past | amends *= amend* |  |  | dozen laces |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme above lace=Location |
| 2 | **try** | gerund | amends *= amend* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **lace up** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive · passive | amends *= amend* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | close *property* | vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle» |
| 4 | **have** | might | amends *= amend* | a fine slender shape |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shape=Patient |
| 5 | **look** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 6 | **is** | past | amends *= amend* |  |  | amends's looking glass |  | continually *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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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