---
title: Then the youngest sister declared that if they laid a finger on the… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the youngest sister declared that if they laid a finger on the little garden boy, she would herself go and tell their father the secret of the holes in their shoes. Who acts: youngest sister, sisters, question. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, wi
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, sentence 153

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the youngest sister declared that if they laid a finger on the little garden boy, she would herself go and tell their father the secret of the holes in their shoes.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** youngest sister, sisters, question · **What happens:** declare, lay, go, tell · **To what, where:** finger, secret, father · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (youngest sister, sisters, question), 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:pg540:2:153
# text = Then the youngest sister declared that if they laid a finger on the little garden boy, she would herself go and tell their father the secret of the holes in their shoes.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	amod	_	_
4	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	declared	declare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	finger	finger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
15	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	nsubj	_	_
21	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	_
24	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	iobj	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	shoes	shoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | the youngest sister |  |  |  | then |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **lay** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | sisters *= sister* | a finger |  |  |  | on the little garden boy | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent finger=Theme on boy=Destination |
| 3 | **go** | would | question |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | question *not said here* | the secret of the holes in sisters's shoes | sisters's father |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent father=Recipient secret=Topic |

<!-- .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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