---
title: The Princess and the Captain of the Guard were talking so earnestly… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The Princess and the Captain of the Guard were talking so earnestly that they did not think of Patypata, but she had overheard all they said, and now came and threw herself at Miranda’s feet. Who acts: Princess, Princesses, Miranda. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Wonderful S
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Wonderful Sheep, part 1, sentence 51

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The Princess and the Captain of the Guard were talking so earnestly that they did not think of Patypata, but she had overheard all they said, and now came and threw herself at Miranda’s feet.

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**Who acts:** Princess, Princesses, Miranda · **What happens:** talk, not think, overhear, say, come, throw · **To what, where:** Miranda, feet · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Wonderful Sheep, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Princess, Princesses, Miranda), 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:pg503:30:51
# text = The Princess and the Captain of the Guard were talking so earnestly that they did not think of Patypata, but she had overheard all they said, and now came and threw herself at Miranda’s feet.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Captain	Captain	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Guard	Guard	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	earnestly	earnestly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	Patypata	Patypata	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	overheard	overhear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
25	all	all	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	31	advmod	_	_
31	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	ccomp	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
34	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	33	obj	_	_
35	at	at	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	Miranda	Miranda	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	’s	's	PART	POS	_	36	case	_	_
38	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | past · progressive | the Princess and the Captain of the Guard |  |  |  |  | earnestly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | past · do-support | Princesses *= princess* |  |  |  |  | of Patypata | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **overhear** | past · perfect | Miranda |  |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Princesses *= princess* |  |  |  |  | all *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **come** | past |  |  |  |  | now |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **throw** | past |  | Miranda |  | Miranda's feet |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent herself=Theme at foot=Destination |

<!-- .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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