---
title: The Queen was terrified at such an evil omen, and tried to pull the… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The Queen was terrified at such an evil omen, and tried to pull the black scarf from the Princess’s shoulders, but it really seemed as if it must be nailed on, it clung so closely. Who acts: Queen, it, scarf. 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 75

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Queen was terrified at such an evil omen, and tried to pull the black scarf from the Princess’s shoulders, but it really seemed as if it must be nailed on, it clung so closely.

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**Who acts:** Queen, it, scarf · **What happens:** be, try, pull, seem, nail on, cling · **To what, where:** evil omen, black scarf, shoulders, scarf

<!-- .vabout -->
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, it, scarf), 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:pg540:3:75
# text = The Queen was terrified at such an evil omen, and tried to pull the black scarf from the Princess’s shoulders, but it really seemed as if it must be nailed on, it clung so closely.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	terrified	terrified	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	9	det:predet	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	omen	omen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	scarf	scarf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
18	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’s	's	PART	POS	_	20	case	_	_
22	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	really	really	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
28	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
29	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	nailed	nail	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	xcomp	_	_
34	on	on	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	clung	cling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
38	so	so	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	closely	closely	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the Queen |  |  | such evil omen |  | terrified *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **try** | past | the Queen *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **pull** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Queen *not said here* | the black scarf |  | the Princess's shoulders |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent scarf=Theme from shoulder=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **nail on** *a condition, not said to happen* | must · passive |  | scarf |  |  |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **cling** | past | scarf |  |  |  |  | closely *property* | vn cling-22.5 «NP V together»: agent=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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