---
title: Then the Queen and all the fairies began to beg and beseech her to t… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the Queen and all the fairies began to beg and beseech her to think better of it, and not be so unkind to the poor little Princess, who had never done her any harm. Who acts: Queen, poor little Princess. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1, with it
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the Queen and all the fairies began to beg and beseech her to think better of it, and not be so unkind to the poor little Princess, who had never done her any harm.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Queen, poor little Princess · **What happens:** begin, beg, beseech, think, not be, not do · **To what, where:** Queen

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, 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, poor little Princess), 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:pg540:3:23
# text = Then the Queen and all the fairies began to beg and beseech her to think better of it, and not be so unkind to the poor little Princess, who had never done her any harm.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
5	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	7	det:predet	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	fairies	fairy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
8	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	beg	beg	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	beseech	beseech	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
13	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	_
16	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	15	ccomp	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	cop	_	_
23	so	so	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	unkind	unkind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
27	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
28	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	29	acl:relcl	_	_
35	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	37	det	_	_
37	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the Queen and all fairies |  |  |  | then |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **beg** *speech: request* | to-infinitive | the Queen and all fairies *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **beseech** | infinitive | the Queen and all fairies *not said here* | Queen |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the Queen and all fairies *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **is** | infinitive | the Queen and all fairies *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the poor little Princess; unkind *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **do** | past · perfect | the poor little Princess | Queen |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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