---
title: The Queen, without giving her another thought, chose a pretty rosy-f… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The Queen, without giving her another thought, chose a pretty rosy-faced nurse, but no sooner was her choice made than a snake, which was hidden in the grass, bit that very nurse on her foot, so that she fell down as if dead. Who acts: Queen, choice, grass. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andr
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Queen, without giving her another thought, chose a pretty rosy-faced nurse, but no sooner was her choice made than a snake, which was hidden in the grass, bit that very nurse on her foot, so that she fell down as if dead.

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**Who acts:** Queen, choice, grass · **What happens:** give, choose, be, make, hide, fall down · **To what, where:** thought, pretty faced nurse, choice, snake, grass

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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, choice, grass), 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:pg540:3:8
# text = The Queen, without giving her another thought, chose a pretty rosy-faced nurse, but no sooner was her choice made than a snake, which was hidden in the grass, bit that very nurse on her foot, so that she fell down as if dead.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	giving	give	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
6	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
8	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
10	chose	choose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
12	pretty	pretty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
13	rosy	rosy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	faced	faced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
19	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	20	det	_	_
20	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	23	advmod	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	choice	choice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
25	than	than	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	acl:relcl	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	conj	_	_
37	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	47	nsubj	_	_
38	very	very	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
40	on	on	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
44	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	47	mark	_	_
45	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	fixed	_	_
46	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	acl:relcl	_	_
48	down	down	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
49	as	as	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
51	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | gerund | the Queen *not said here* | Queen's thought |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thought=Theme |
| 2 | **choose** | past | the Queen | a pretty faced nurse |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nurse=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | Queen's choice |  |  |  | soon *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **make** | past | Queen's choice |  |  |  |  | than a snake | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 5 | **hide** | past · passive |  | a snake |  | the grass and bit |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Patient in grass=Location |
| 6 | **fall down** | past | the grass and bit |  |  |  |  | as dead; down *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **think** |  | Queen |  |  |  |  |  | nom thought «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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