---
title: They were not as yet over and above mischievous, but they promised v… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They were not as yet over and above mischievous, but they promised very fair for it, for they had already bitten little children, that they might suck their blood. Who acts: ogresses. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Little Thumb, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Little Thumb, sentence 92

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They were not as yet over and above mischievous, but they promised very fair for it, for they had already bitten little children, that they might suck their blood.

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**Who acts:** ogresses · **What happens:** not be, be, promise, bite, suck · **To what, where:** ogresses, blood

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Little Thumb. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ogresses), 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:pg503:33:92
# text = They were not as yet over and above mischievous, but they promised very fair for it, for they had already bitten little children, that they might suck their blood.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
4	as	as	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	over	over	ADV	RB	_	0	root	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	above	above	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	mischievous	mischievous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	promised	promise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
14	very	very	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	already	already	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	bitten	bite	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
24	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	suck	suck	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	parataxis	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | ogresses *= ogress* |  |  |  | yet | over *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | ogresses *= ogress* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past | ogresses *= ogress* |  |  |  |  | fair *property* | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **bite** | past · perfect · passive |  | ogresses *= ogress* |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP ADJP»: subject=Patient child=Result |
| 5 | **suck** | might | ogresses *= ogress* | ogresses's blood |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent blood=Theme |

<!-- .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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