---
title: But she too had not had the shirt very long in her hands before it l… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But she too had not had the shirt very long in her hands before it looked worse still, and, the more she washed it and rubbed it, the larger and blacker grew the spots. Who acts: princess, shirt, larger. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, with i
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, sentence 145

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But she too had not had the shirt very long in her hands before it looked worse still, and, the more she washed it and rubbed it, the larger and blacker grew the spots.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** princess, shirt, larger · **What happens:** not have, look, wash, rub, grow · **To what, where:** shirt, spots

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, East of the Sun and West of the Moon. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (princess, shirt, larger), 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:pg503:4:145
# text = But she too had not had the shirt very long in her hands before it looked worse still, and, the more she washed it and rubbed it, the larger and blacker grew the spots.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	shirt	shirt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
14	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
17	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	16	xcomp	_	_
18	still	still	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	25	advmod	_	_
24	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	washed	wash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	rubbed	rub	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
32	larger	large	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	35	nsubj	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	blacker	black	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	32	conj	_	_
35	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	spots	spot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **have** | past · perfect | princess | the shirt |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shirt=Patient |
| 2 | **look** | past | shirt |  |  |  | still | bad *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **wash** | past | princess | shirt |  |  |  |  | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 4 | **rub** | past | princess *not said here* | shirt |  |  |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 5 | **grow** | past | larger | the spots |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location spot=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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