--- title: He had heard that somewhere in the world there were girls whose neck… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: He had heard that somewhere in the world there were girls whose necks were white and whose hands were small, who were always dressed in the finest silks and laces, and were called princesses, and while his companions round the fire saw nothing in the flames but common everyday fancies, he dreamed th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/2/6/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Red Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/) / [The Twelve Dancing Princesses](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/2/) / 6 # The Red Fairy Book, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, sentence 6 He had heard that somewhere in the world there were girls whose necks were white and whose hands were small, who were always dressed in the finest silks and laces, and were called princesses, and while his companions round the fire saw nothing in the flames but common everyday fancies, he dreamed that he had the happiness to marry a princess. **Who acts:** boy, girls, necks, hands, companions · **What happens:** hear, be, dress, call, see, dream · **To what, where:** world, finest silks, princesses, nothing, flames, happiness · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (boy, girls, necks, hands), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg540:2:6 # text = He had heard that somewhere in the world there were girls whose necks were white and whose hands were small, who were always dressed in the finest silks and laces, and were called princesses, and while his companions round the fire saw nothing in the flames but common everyday fancies, he dreamed that he had the happiness to marry a princess. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 4 that that SCONJ IN _ 5 mark _ _ 5 somewhere somewhere ADV RB PronType=Ind 3 advcl _ _ 6 in in ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 world world NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 9 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 10 expl _ _ 10 were be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 11 girls girl NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 nsubj _ _ 12 whose whose PRON WP$ Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel 13 nmod:poss _ _ 13 necks neck NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nsubj _ _ 14 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 cop _ _ 15 white white ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 acl:relcl _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 17 whose whose PRON WP$ Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel 18 nmod:poss _ _ 18 hands hand NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 nsubj _ _ 19 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 cop _ _ 20 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 22 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 25 nsubj:pass _ _ 23 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux:pass _ _ 24 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 25 advmod _ _ 25 dressed dress VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 20 conj _ _ 26 in in ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 28 finest fine ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 29 amod _ _ 29 silks silk NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 obl _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 laces lace NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 34 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 aux:pass _ _ 35 called call VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 parataxis _ _ 36 princesses princess NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 39 while while SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 40 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 companions companion NOUN NNS Number=Plur 45 nsubj _ _ 42 round round ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 fire fire NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nmod _ _ 45 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 46 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 45 obj _ _ 47 in in ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 flames flame NOUN NNS Number=Plur 45 obl _ _ 50 but but CCONJ CC _ 53 cc _ _ 51 common common ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 53 amod _ _ 52 everyday everyday ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 53 amod _ _ 53 fancies fancy NOUN NNS Number=Plur 49 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 54 , , PUNCT , _ 56 punct _ _ 55 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 56 nsubj _ _ 56 dreamed dream VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 57 that that SCONJ IN _ 59 mark _ _ 58 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 59 nsubj _ _ 59 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 56 ccomp _ _ 60 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 61 det _ _ 61 happiness happiness NOUN NN Number=Sing 59 obj _ _ 62 to to PART TO _ 63 mark _ _ 63 marry marry VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 61 acl _ _ 64 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 65 det _ _ 65 princess princess NOUN NN Number=Sing 63 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 66 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hear** | past · perfect | boy | | | the world | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **be** | past | girls | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **is** | past | necks | | | | | white *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **is** | past | hands | | | | | small *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **dress** | past · passive | | | | the finest silks and laces | | always *property* | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 6 | **call** | past · passive | | princesses | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V» | | 7 | **see** | past | boy's companions round the fire | nothing | | the flames but common everyday fancies | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus | | 8 | **dream** | past | boy | | | | | | vn cognize-85 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 9 | **have** | past | boy | the happiness | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent happiness=Patient | | 10 | **marry** | to-infinitive | boy *not said here* | a princess | | | | | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent princess=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/2/5/) - next →: [sentence 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/2/7/) - ↑ back to [The Twelve Dancing Princesses](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/2/)