---
title: The Queen could not imagine how her step-daughter could look so well… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The Queen could not imagine how her step-daughter could look so well on such bad food, so she ordered one of her handmaidens to follow her into the wood and watch her, and see how it was, for she thought that some of the servants must be giving her food. Who acts: Queen, step daughter, daughter, one
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Kari Woodengown, part 1, sentence 16

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Queen could not imagine how her step-daughter could look so well on such bad food, so she ordered one of her handmaidens to follow her into the wood and watch her, and see how it was, for she thought that some of the servants must be giving her food.

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**Who acts:** Queen, step daughter, daughter, one, food, some · **What happens:** not imagine, look, order, follow, watch, see · **To what, where:** one, Queen, wood, food

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Kari Woodengown, 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 (Queen, step daughter, daughter, one), 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:pg540:29:16
# text = The Queen could not imagine how her step-daughter could look so well on such bad food, so she ordered one of her handmaidens to follow her into the wood and watch her, and see how it was, for she thought that some of the servants must be giving her food.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	imagine	imagine	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
7	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
8	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
17	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	ordered	order	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
23	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	obj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	handmaidens	handmaiden	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
29	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	into	into	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	conj	_	_
35	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	see	see	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
39	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	45	advmod	_	_
40	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
41	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
43	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
44	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	advcl	_	_
46	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
47	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	53	nsubj	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nmod	_	_
51	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
52	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	aux	_	_
53	giving	give	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	45	advcl	_	_
54	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **imagine** | could | the Queen |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **look** | could | Queen's step daughter |  |  |  |  | on such bad food; well *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent on food=Theme |
| 3 | **order** | past | daughter | one of Queen's handmaidens |  |  |  |  | vn order-58.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent one=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **follow** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | one of Queen's handmaidens *not said here* | Queen |  | the wood |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent she=Theme into wood=Trajectory |
| 5 | **watch** | infinitive | one of Queen's handmaidens *not said here* | Queen |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 6 | **see** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **is** | past | food |  |  |  |  | think *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **give** | must · progressive | some | Queen's food |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Theme |

<!-- .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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