---
title: However, at last the nurse persuaded him to help her, and when the n… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: However, at last the nurse persuaded him to help her, and when the night came and the Princess was fast asleep as usual, with Frisk curled up on his own cushion at the foot of her bed, the wicked nurse fetched the boatman and her daughter, and between them they picked up the Princess, feather bed, m
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Princess Rosette, sentence 134

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However, at last the nurse persuaded him to help her, and when the night came and the Princess was fast asleep as usual, with Frisk curled up on his own cushion at the foot of her bed, the wicked nurse fetched the boatman and her daughter, and between them they picked up the Princess, feather bed, mattress, pillows, blankets and all, and threw her into the sea, without even waking her.

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**Who acts:** night, Princess, Frisk · **What happens:** persuade, help, come, be, curl up, fetch · **To what, where:** nurse, last nurse, boatman, Frisk, own cushion, Princess

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Princess Rosette. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (night, Princess, Frisk), 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:pg540:11:134
# text = However, at last the nurse persuaded him to help her, and when the night came and the Princess was fast asleep as usual, with Frisk curled up on his own cushion at the foot of her bed, the wicked nurse fetched the boatman and her daughter, and between them they picked up the Princess, feather bed, mattress, pillows, blankets and all, and threw her into the sea, without even waking her.
1	However	however	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
7	persuaded	persuade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
11	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	17	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	23	advmod	_	_
23	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	conj	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	Frisk	frisk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
29	curled	curl	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	acl	_	_
30	up	up	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
33	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	cushion	cushion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
35	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
45	fetched	fetch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	boatman	boatman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
49	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
53	between	between	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	obl	_	_
55	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
56	picked	pick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
57	up	up	ADP	RP	_	56	compound:prt	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
61	feather	feather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	compound	_	_
62	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
64	mattress	mattress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	66	punct	_	_
66	pillows	pillow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	64	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	68	punct	_	_
68	blankets	blanket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	66	conj	_	_
69	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	70	cc	_	_
70	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	66	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	73	punct	_	_
72	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	73	cc	_	_
73	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
74	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	73	obj	_	_
75	into	into	ADP	IN	_	77	case	_	_
76	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	77	det	_	_
77	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
78	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	81	punct	_	_
79	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	81	mark	_	_
80	even	even	ADV	RB	_	81	advmod	_	_
81	waking	wake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	73	advcl	_	_
82	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	81	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
83	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **persuade** | past |  | nurse |  | the last nurse |  | however *property* | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 2 | **help** | to-infinitive |  |  | boatman |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **come** | past | the night |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | the Princess |  |  |  |  | as usual; asleep, fast *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **curl up** | participle |  | Frisk *not said here* |  | Frisk's own cushion |  | at the foot of boatman's bed | vn coil-9.6-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **fetch** | past | Frisk | the boatman and boatman's daughter |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boatman=Theme |
| 7 | **pick up** | past | Princess | the Princess |  |  |  | between Princess; mattress and pillows and blankets *obl* | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent princess=Topic |
| 8 | **throw** | past |  | boatman |  |  |  | into the sea *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer she=Theme into sea=Result |
| 9 | **wake** | gerund |  | boatman |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent she=Patient |

<!-- .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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