---
title: Now all this time the wicked stepmother, who had been the cause of t… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now all this time the wicked stepmother, who had been the cause of these poor children’s misfortunes and trying adventures, was feeling fully persuaded that sister had been torn to pieces by wild beasts, and brother shot to death in the shape of a Roe. Who acts: wicked stepmother, wild beasts, broth
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Brother and Sister, sentence 83

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now all this time the wicked stepmother, who had been the cause of these poor children’s misfortunes and trying adventures, was feeling fully persuaded that sister had been torn to pieces by wild beasts, and brother shot to death in the shape of a Roe.

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**Who acts:** wicked stepmother, wild beasts, brother · **What happens:** be, try, feel, persuade, tear, shoot · **To what, where:** cause, adventures, sister, shape

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Brother and Sister. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wicked stepmother, wild beasts, brother), 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:pg540:10:83
# text = Now all this time the wicked stepmother, who had been the cause of these poor children’s misfortunes and trying adventures, was feeling fully persuaded that sister had been torn to pieces by wild beasts, and brother shot to death in the shape of a Roe.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	25	advmod	_	_
2	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	4	det:predet	_	_
3	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl:unmarked	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
11	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	cop	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	cause	cause	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
15	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	17	det	_	_
16	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	’s	's	PART	POS	_	17	case	_	_
19	misfortunes	misfortune	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	conj	_	_
22	adventures	adventure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	feeling	feel	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	advcl	_	_
26	fully	fully	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	persuaded	persuade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
29	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	torn	tear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	advcl	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
35	by	by	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
41	shot	shoot	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
42	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	Roe	roe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past · perfect | the wicked stepmother | the cause |  |  |  | of this poor children's misfortunes | tree rules |
| 2 | **try** | gerund | the wicked stepmother *not said here* | adventures |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent adventure=Eventuality |
| 3 | **feel** | past · progressive | the wicked stepmother |  |  |  | now; time |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **persuade** | past |  |  |  |  |  | fully *property* | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **tear** | past · perfect · passive | wild beasts | sister |  |  |  | to pieces *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent subject=Patient to piece=Result |
| 6 | **shoot** | past | brother |  |  | the shape of a Roe |  | to death | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent to death=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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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