--- title: When they were going away the oldest Fairy said that they were of op… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: When they were going away the oldest Fairy said that they were of opinion that it would be best to shut the Princess up in some place, with her waiting-women, so that she might not see anyone else until she was twenty years old. Who acts: gifts, it, Princess. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by An --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/3/28/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Red Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/) / [The Princess Mayblossom, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/3/) / 28 # The Red Fairy Book, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1, sentence 28 When they were going away the oldest Fairy said that they were of opinion that it would be best to shut the Princess up in some place, with her waiting-women, so that she might not see anyone else until she was twenty years old. **Who acts:** gifts, it, Princess · **What happens:** go away, say, be, shut, not see · **To what, where:** oldest Fairy, Princess, place, anyone · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (gifts, it, Princess), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg540:3:28 # text = When they were going away the oldest Fairy said that they were of opinion that it would be best to shut the Princess up in some place, with her waiting-women, so that she might not see anyone else until she was twenty years old. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 4 advmod _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 9 ccomp _ _ 5 away away ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 7 oldest old ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 8 amod _ _ 8 Fairy fairy NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ _ 9 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 10 that that SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ _ 11 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 12 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 cop _ _ 13 of of ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 opinion opinion NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 ccomp _ _ 15 that that SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 16 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 17 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 19 aux _ _ 18 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 19 cop _ _ 19 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 14 parataxis _ _ 20 to to PART TO _ 21 mark _ _ 21 shut shut VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 19 csubj _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 Princess Princess PROPN NNP Number=Sing 21 obj _ _ 24 up up ADP RP _ 23 compound:prt _ _ 25 in in ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 27 det _ _ 27 place place NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 29 with with ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 30 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 31 waiting waiting NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 32 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 33 women woman NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 35 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 40 mark _ _ 36 that that SCONJ IN _ 35 fixed _ _ 37 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 38 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 39 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 40 advmod _ _ 40 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 conj _ _ 41 anyone anyone PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 40 obj _ _ 42 else else ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ _ 43 until until SCONJ IN _ 48 mark _ _ 44 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 45 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 cop _ _ 46 twenty twenty NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 47 nummod _ _ 47 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 obl:unmarked _ _ 48 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **go away** | past · progressive | gifts *= gift* | the oldest Fairy | | | | away *property* | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location fairy=Theme | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **is** | past | gifts *= gift* | | | | | of opinion | tree rules | | 4 | **is** | would | it | | | | | good *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **shut** | to-infinitive | | the Princess | | some place | | with Princess's waiting women | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent princess=Patient with woman=Instrument | | 6 | **not** **see** | might | Princess | anyone | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer anyone=Stimulus | | 7 | **is** | past | Princess | | | | year | old *property* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/3/27/) - next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/3/29/) - ↑ back to [The Princess Mayblossom, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/3/)