---
title: They whom he employed began to try it upon the princesses, then the… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They whom he employed began to try it upon the princesses, then the duchesses and all the Court, but in vain; it was brought to the two sisters, who did all they possibly could to thrust their foot into the slipper, but they could not effect it. Who acts: son, slippers, two sisters. A sentence of «T
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, sentence 84

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They whom he employed began to try it upon the princesses, then the duchesses and all the Court, but in vain; it was brought to the two sisters, who did all they possibly could to thrust their foot into the slipper, but they could not effect it.

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**Who acts:** son, slippers, two sisters · **What happens:** employ, begin, try, bring, do, thrust · **To what, where:** foot, two sisters, all, slipper

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (son, slippers, two sisters), 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:pg503:11:84
# text = They whom he employed began to try it upon the princesses, then the duchesses and all the Court, but in vain; it was brought to the two sisters, who did all they possibly could to thrust their foot into the slipper, but they could not effect it.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	obj	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	employed	employ	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	acl:relcl	_	_
5	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	princesses	princess	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	duchesses	duchess	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	19	det:predet	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	Court	court	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nummod	_	_
31	sisters	sister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
34	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	acl:relcl	_	_
35	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	34	obj	_	_
36	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
37	possibly	possibly	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
38	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	thrust	thrust	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	acl:relcl	_	_
41	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	into	into	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	slipper	slipper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
47	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
48	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
49	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
50	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	51	advmod	_	_
51	effect	effect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	parataxis	_	_
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | past | son |  |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whom=Theme |
| 2 | **begin** | past | slippers *= slipper* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **try** | to-infinitive | slippers *= slipper* *not said here* | foot |  |  |  | upon the princesses and the duchesses and all Court | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 4 | **bring** | past · passive |  | foot | the two sisters |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to sister=Destination |
| 5 | **do** | past | the two sisters | all |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent all=Eventuality |
| 6 | **thrust** | could | slippers *= slipper* | slippers's foot |  | the slipper |  | possibly *property* | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent foot=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **effect** | could | slippers *= slipper* | foot |  |  |  |  | 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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