---
title: She could scarcely believe him at first, and was eager at once to go… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: She could scarcely believe him at first, and was eager at once to go back and share the fate of her dear ones; but the old nurse, with many tears, besought her to remember that she had still a child, and that it was her duty to preserve her life for the sake of the poor innocent. Who acts: Beanstalk
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Wonderful Growth of the Beanstalk, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She could scarcely believe him at first, and was eager at once to go back and share the fate of her dear ones; but the old nurse, with many tears, besought her to remember that she had still a child, and that it was her duty to preserve her life for the sake of the poor innocent.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Beanstalk, nurse · **What happens:** believe, be, go back, share, beseech, remember · **To what, where:** Rumour, fate, Beanstalk, child, duty, life · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Wonderful Growth of the Beanstalk. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Beanstalk, nurse), 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:pg540:16:24
# text = She could scarcely believe him at first, and was eager at once to go back and share the fate of her dear ones; but the old nurse, with many tears, besought her to remember that she had still a child, and that it was her duty to preserve her life for the sake of the poor innocent.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	eager	eager	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	11	obl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
16	back	back	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	share	share	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	fate	fate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
23	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
35	besought	beseech	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
36	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	remember	remember	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	advcl	_	_
39	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
40	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	ccomp	_	_
42	still	still	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
47	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
48	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
49	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
50	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	duty	duty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	conj	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	preserve	preserve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	acl	_	_
54	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	_
56	for	for	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	sake	sake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	_
59	of	of	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
60	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
61	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	amod	_	_
62	innocent	innocent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **believe** | could | Beanstalk | Rumour |  |  |  | scarcely *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | past | Beanstalk *not said here* |  |  |  |  | eager *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **go back** | to-infinitive | Beanstalk *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **share** | infinitive | Beanstalk *not said here* | the fate of Beanstalk's dear ones |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **beseech** | past | Beanstalk *not said here* | Beanstalk |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **remember** | to-infinitive | Beanstalk *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 7 | **have** | past | Beanstalk | a child |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Patient |
| 8 | **is a** | past | nurse | Beanstalk's duty |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **preserve** | to-infinitive | Beanstalk *not said here* | Beanstalk's life |  |  |  | for the sake of the poor innocent | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Beneficiary |
| 10 | **fate** |  |  | Beanstalk's dear ones |  |  |  |  | nom fate «event transitive»: of=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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