---
title: While she was thus pretending to be sorry for the King, he suddenly… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: While she was thus pretending to be sorry for the King, he suddenly noticed her feet, which were like those of a griffin, and knew in a moment that this must be the Fairy of the Desert, for her feet were the one thing she could not change, however pretty she might make her face. Who acts: Fairy, Kin
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Yellow Dwarf, part 2, sentence 72

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While she was thus pretending to be sorry for the King, he suddenly noticed her feet, which were like those of a griffin, and knew in a moment that this must be the Fairy of the Desert, for her feet were the one thing she could not change, however pretty she might make her face.

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**Who acts:** Fairy, King, feet, this · **What happens:** pretend, be, notice, know, not change, make · **To what, where:** feet, Fairy, one thing, face

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Yellow Dwarf, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fairy, King, feet, this), 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:pg503:6:72
# text = While she was thus pretending to be sorry for the King, he suddenly noticed her feet, which were like those of a griffin, and knew in a moment that this must be the Fairy of the Desert, for her feet were the one thing she could not change, however pretty she might make her face.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	pretending	pretend	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
8	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	noticed	notice	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	like	like	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	17	conj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	griffin	griffin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
33	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	37	nsubj	_	_
34	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
35	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	cop	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	Fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	Desert	Desert	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
42	for	for	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
43	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	nsubj	_	_
45	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	cop	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	48	nummod	_	_
48	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
49	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
50	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
51	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	52	advmod	_	_
52	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
54	however	however	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
55	pretty	pretty	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
56	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
57	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
58	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	parataxis	_	_
59	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	60	nmod:poss	_	_
60	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pretend** | past · progressive | Fairy |  |  |  |  | thus *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | Fairy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the King; sorry *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **notice** | past | King | Fairy's feet |  |  |  | suddenly *property* | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer foot=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is** | past | Fairy's feet |  |  |  |  | like those; of a griffin | tree rules |
| 5 | **know** | past | King *not said here* |  |  |  | moment |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **is a** | must | this | the Fairy |  |  |  | of the Desert | tree rules |
| 7 | **is** | past | Fairy's feet |  |  |  |  | for the one thing | tree rules |
| 8 | **not** **change** | could | Fairy | the one thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Patient |
| 9 | **make** | might | Fairy | Fairy's face |  |  |  | however, pretty *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent face=Product |

<!-- .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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