---
title: But the Queen cried that she would far rather have her own head cut… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the Queen cried that she would far rather have her own head cut off, and that he had better think of something else, for she would never consent to such a thing. Who acts: Queen, own head, turn, something. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Princess Rosette, with its dependency t
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Princess Rosette, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the Queen cried that she would far rather have her own head cut off, and that he had better think of something else, for she would never consent to such a thing.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Queen, own head, turn, something · **What happens:** cry, have, cut off, not consent, think · **To what, where:** own head, better think · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Queen, own head, turn, something), 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:pg540:11:24
# text = But the Queen cried that she would far rather have her own head cut off, and that he had better think of something else, for she would never consent to such a thing.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
8	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	_
9	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
12	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
14	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	xcomp	_	_
15	off	off	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
21	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	22	amod	_	_
22	think	think	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	22	nmod	_	_
25	else	else	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	consent	consent	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	conj	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	35	det:predet	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | the Queen |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | would | Queen | Queen's own head |  |  |  | far *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **cut off** | participle | Queen's own head *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 4 | **have** | past | turn | better think of something |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent think=Patient |
| 5 | **not** **consent** | would | Queen |  |  |  |  | to such thing | vn acquiesce-95.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to thing=Theme |
| 6 | **think** |  | something |  |  |  |  |  | nom think «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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