---
title: But no sooner did they begin to beat her than she found, to her grea… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But no sooner did they begin to beat her than she found, to her great relief, that the rods had changed to bundles of peacock’s feathers, and though the Duchess’s women went on till they were so tired that they could no longer raise their arms from their sides, yet she was not hurt in the least. Who
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet, part 1, sentence 98

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But no sooner did they begin to beat her than she found, to her great relief, that the rods had changed to bundles of peacock’s feathers, and though the Duchess’s women went on till they were so tired that they could no longer raise their arms from their sides, yet she was not hurt in the least.

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**Who acts:** women, Percinet, rods · **What happens:** begin, beat, find, change, go, be · **To what, where:** Percinet, great relief, arms, sides, least

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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 (women, Percinet, rods), 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:pg540:23:98
# text = But no sooner did they begin to beat her than she found, to her great relief, that the rods had changed to bundles of peacock’s feathers, and though the Duchess’s women went on till they were so tired that they could no longer raise their arms from their sides, yet she was not hurt in the least.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
3	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
4	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	beat	beat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	relief	relief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	rods	rod	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	conj	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	bundles	bundle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	peacock	peacock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’s	's	PART	POS	_	27	case	_	_
29	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
32	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	Duchess	Duchess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	’s	's	PART	POS	_	34	case	_	_
36	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nsubj	_	_
37	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
38	on	on	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
39	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
41	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	cop	_	_
42	so	so	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	obl	_	_
44	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
45	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
46	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
47	no	no	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	49	advmod	_	_
49	raise	raise	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	advcl	_	_
50	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obj	_	_
52	from	from	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	sides	side	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
56	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
57	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	nsubj:pass	_	_
58	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	60	aux:pass	_	_
59	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	60	advmod	_	_
60	hurt	hurt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	parataxis	_	_
61	in	in	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	60	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past · do-support | women *= woman* |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **beat** | to-infinitive | women *= woman* *not said here* | Percinet |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location she=Theme |
| 3 | **find** | past | Percinet | Percinet's great relief |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent relief=Topic |
| 4 | **change** | past · perfect | the rods |  |  |  |  | to bundles of peacock's feathers *result* | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Agent to bundle=Result |
| 5 | **go** | past | the Duchess's women |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **is** | past | women *= woman* |  |  |  |  | tired *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **raise** | could | women *= woman* | women's arms |  | women's sides |  | long *property* | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent arm=Theme from side=Destination |
| 8 | **not** **hurt** | past · passive |  | Percinet |  | the least |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: subject=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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