---
title: You may imagine that they did not go the shortest way, but the Princ… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: You may imagine that they did not go the shortest way, but the Princess did not find it too long, and before they parted she had promised that if the Queen was still cruel to her, and tried again to play her any spiteful trick, she would leave her and come to Percinet for ever. Who acts: You, shoes,
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet, part 3, sentence 43

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You may imagine that they did not go the shortest way, but the Princess did not find it too long, and before they parted she had promised that if the Queen was still cruel to her, and tried again to play her any spiteful trick, she would leave her and come to Percinet for ever.

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**Who acts:** You, shoes, Princess, Queen · **What happens:** imagine, not go, not find, part, promise, be · **To what, where:** shortest way, way, Princess, spiteful trick, Queen, Percinet

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Graciosa and Percinet, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (You, shoes, Princess, Queen), 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:pg540:25:43
# text = You may imagine that they did not go the shortest way, but the Princess did not find it too long, and before they parted she had promised that if the Queen was still cruel to her, and tried again to play her any spiteful trick, she would leave her and come to Percinet for ever.
1	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	imagine	imagine	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	shortest	short	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	11	amod	_	_
11	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
16	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	too	too	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
24	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	parted	part	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	advcl	_	_
27	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	promised	promise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	ccomp	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
31	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
35	still	still	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	advcl	_	_
37	to	to	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
41	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
42	again	again	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	xcomp	_	_
45	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	_
46	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	48	det	_	_
47	spiteful	spiteful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	trick	trick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
50	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
51	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
52	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	conj	_	_
53	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obj	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
55	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	conj	_	_
56	to	to	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	Percinet	Percinet	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	55	obl	_	_
58	for	for	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
59	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **imagine** | may | You |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **go** | past · do-support | shoes *= shoe* | the shortest way |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **find** | past · do-support | the Princess | way |  |  |  | long *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 4 | **part** | past | shoes *= shoe* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past · perfect | Princess |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the Queen |  | Princess |  | still | cruel *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **try** | past | the Princess *not said here* |  |  |  | again |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 8 | **play** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Princess *not said here* | any spiteful trick | Queen |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent she=Beneficiary trick=Theme |
| 9 | **leave** | would | Queen | Princess |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 10 | **come** | infinitive | Queen *not said here* |  |  | Percinet |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to percinet=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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