---
title: She had hardly got inside the door when she was seized by four waiti… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: She had hardly got inside the door when she was seized by four waiting women, who looked so tall and strong and cruel that the Princess shuddered at the sight of them, and still more when she saw them arming themselves with great bundles of rods, and heard the Duchess call out to them from her bed t
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet, part 1, sentence 96

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She had hardly got inside the door when she was seized by four waiting women, who looked so tall and strong and cruel that the Princess shuddered at the sight of them, and still more when she saw them arming themselves with great bundles of rods, and heard the Duchess call out to them from her bed to beat the Princess without mercy.

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**Who acts:** duchess, four waiting women, Princess, women · **What happens:** get, seize, wait, look, shudder, see · **To what, where:** door, duchess, women, bed, rods, Princess · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Graciosa and Percinet, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (duchess, four waiting women, Princess, women), 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:pg540:23:96
# text = She had hardly got inside the door when she was seized by four waiting women, who looked so tall and strong and cruel that the Princess shuddered at the sight of them, and still more when she saw them arming themselves with great bundles of rods, and heard the Duchess call out to them from her bed to beat the Princess without mercy.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
9	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	seized	seize	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
12	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
14	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	amod	_	_
15	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
18	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
28	shuddered	shudder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
36	still	still	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	40	advmod	_	_
38	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	40	advmod	_	_
39	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
41	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	_
42	arming	arm	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	40	xcomp	_	_
43	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	42	obj	_	_
44	with	with	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	bundles	bundle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obl	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	rods	rod	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	conj	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	Duchess	Duchess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	54	nsubj	_	_
54	call	call	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	51	ccomp	_	_
55	out	out	ADP	RP	_	54	compound:prt	_	_
56	to	to	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	obl	_	_
58	from	from	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	60	nmod:poss	_	_
60	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	_
61	to	to	PART	TO	_	62	mark	_	_
62	beat	beat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	advcl	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	Princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obj	_	_
65	without	without	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
66	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
67	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past · perfect | duchess |  |  | the door |  | hardly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **seize** | past · passive | four waiting women | duchess |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 3 | **wait** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **look** | past | four waiting women |  |  |  |  | tall *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 5 | **shudder** | past | the Princess |  |  |  |  | at the sight of women | vn body\_internal\_states-40.6 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer at sight=Stimulus |
| 6 | **see** | past | duchess | women *= woman* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **arm** | gerund | women *= woman* *not said here* | women *= woman* |  |  |  | with great bundles of rods | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: agent=Agent themselves=Recipient with bundle=Theme |
| 8 | **hear** | past | duchess *not said here* |  |  | duchess's bed |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.source how S»: agent=Agent from bed=Source clause=Topic |
| 9 | **call out** *speech: assert* | present | the Duchess |  | rods *= rod* |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to they=Recipient |
| 10 | **beat** | to-infinitive | duchess *not said here* | the Princess |  |  |  | without mercy | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location princess=Theme |
| 11 | **sight** |  |  | women *= woman* |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition 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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