---
title: But two years before, when Renelde’s mother was dying of a long illn… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But two years before, when Renelde’s mother was dying of a long illness, the Countess had not forgotten them, but had given help when they sorely needed it. Who acts: mother, Countess, besides. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nettle Spinner, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Nettle Spinner, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But two years before, when Renelde’s mother was dying of a long illness, the Countess had not forgotten them, but had given help when they sorely needed it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** mother, Countess, besides · **What happens:** die, not forget, give, need · **To what, where:** besides, help

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nettle Spinner. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, Countess, besides), 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:pg540:42:25
# text = But two years before, when Renelde’s mother was dying of a long illness, the Countess had not forgotten them, but had given help when they sorely needed it.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	before	before	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
6	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	11	mark	_	_
7	Renelde	Renelde	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	’s	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	dying	die	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	csubj:pass	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	illness	illness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Countess	Countess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	forgotten	forget	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	parataxis	_	_
27	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
28	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	31	advmod	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	sorely	sorely	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** | past · progressive | Renelde's mother |  |  |  |  | of a long illness; before *property* | vn die-42.4-1 «NP V PP.cause»: agent=Patient of illness=Causer |
| 2 | **not** **forget** | past · perfect | the Countess | besides *= beside* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **give** | past · perfect |  | help |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent help=Theme |
| 4 | **need** | past | besides *= beside* | help |  |  |  | sorely *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot it=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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