---
title: At this the nurse came forward, and, falling on her knees, confessed… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At this the nurse came forward, and, falling on her knees, confessed how they had made the little needle-hole in the tower, and how the Princess had declared when she saw the Ambassador that she would marry him and nobody else. Who acts: Mayblossom, Princess. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by An
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Princess Mayblossom, part 2, sentence 53

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At this the nurse came forward, and, falling on her knees, confessed how they had made the little needle-hole in the tower, and how the Princess had declared when she saw the Ambassador that she would marry him and nobody else.

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**Who acts:** Mayblossom, Princess · **What happens:** come forward, fall, confess, make, declare, see · **To what, where:** nurse, knees, little needle hole, tower, Ambassador

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Mayblossom, 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:pg540:4:53
# text = At this the nurse came forward, and, falling on her knees, confessed how they had made the little needle-hole in the tower, and how the Princess had declared when she saw the Ambassador that she would marry him and nobody else.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
5	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	confessed	confess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
16	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	ccomp	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
21	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
22	needle	needle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
30	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	34	advmod	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
33	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	declared	declare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
35	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	37	advmod	_	_
36	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	advcl	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	Ambassador	Ambassador	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
41	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	advcl	_	_
44	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	obj	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	44	conj	_	_
47	else	else	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come forward** | past |  |  |  | this nurse |  | forward *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at nurse=Location |
| 2 | **fall** | gerund |  |  |  | nurse's knees |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on knee=Location |
| 3 | **confess** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **make** | past · perfect | Mayblossom | the little needle hole |  | the tower |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset hole=Product |
| 5 | **declare** *speech: other* | past · perfect | the Princess |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **see** | past | Princess | the Ambassador |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer ambassador=Stimulus |
| 7 | **marry** | would | Princess | Ambassador |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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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