---
title: They threw themselves on the infuriated King and his ministers, and… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They threw themselves on the infuriated King and his ministers, and stung them so fiercely in the face that they lost their heads, and not knowing where to hide themselves they all jumped pell-mell from the window and broke their necks on the pavement. Who acts: wasps. A sentence of «The Red Fairy B
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Kari Woodengown, part 3, sentence 99

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They threw themselves on the infuriated King and his ministers, and stung them so fiercely in the face that they lost their heads, and not knowing where to hide themselves they all jumped pell-mell from the window and broke their necks on the pavement.

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**Who acts:** wasps · **What happens:** throw, infuriate, sting, lose, not know, hide · **To what, where:** wasps, face, heads, pell, window, necks

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Kari Woodengown, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wasps), 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:pg540:31:99
# text = They threw themselves on the infuriated King and his ministers, and stung them so fiercely in the face that they lost their heads, and not knowing where to hide themselves they all jumped pell-mell from the window and broke their necks on the pavement.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	2	obj	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	infuriated	infuriate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	amod	_	_
7	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	ministers	minister	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	stung	sting	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	fiercely	fiercely	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
28	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
29	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	31	advmod	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	hide	hide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
32	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	31	obj	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	35	advmod	_	_
35	jumped	jump	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
36	pell	pell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	mell	mell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	xcomp	_	_
39	from	from	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	conj	_	_
44	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	necks	neck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obj	_	_
46	on	on	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	pavement	pavement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw** | past | wasps *= wasp* | wasps *= wasp* |  |  |  | on the infuriated King and King's ministers | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme on king=Destination |
| 2 | **infuriate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **sting** | past | wasps *= wasp* *not said here* | wasps *= wasp* |  | the face |  | fiercely *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |
| 4 | **lose** | past | wasps *= wasp* | wasps's heads |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Eventuality |
| 5 | **not** **know** | gerund | wasps *= wasp* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **hide** | to-infinitive | wasps *= wasp* *not said here* | wasps *= wasp* |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Patient |
| 7 | **jump** | past | wasps *= wasp* | pell |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **mell** | infinitive | wasps *= wasp* *not said here* |  |  | the window |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **break** | past | wasps *= wasp* *not said here* | wasps's necks |  | the pavement |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer neck=Patient |

<!-- .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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