---
title: She did her best to please the old woman, and shook her bed with suc… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: She did her best to please the old woman, and shook her bed with such a will that the feathers flew about like snow-flakes; so she led a very easy life, was never scolded, and lived on the fat of the land. Who acts: girl, feathers. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mother Holle, par
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Mother Holle, part 1, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She did her best to please the old woman, and shook her bed with such a will that the feathers flew about like snow-flakes; so she led a very easy life, was never scolded, and lived on the fat of the land.

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**Who acts:** girl, feathers · **What happens:** do, please, shake, fly, lead, not scold · **To what, where:** best, old woman, bed, snow flakes, easy life, fat

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mother Holle, 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 (girl, feathers), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg540:44:21
# text = She did her best to please the old woman, and shook her bed with such a will that the feathers flew about like snow-flakes; so she led a very easy life, was never scolded, and lived on the fat of the land.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	please	please	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	shook	shake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	18	det:predet	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
22	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
23	about	about	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
24	like	like	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	flakes	flake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
30	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	led	lead	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
33	very	very	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux:pass	_	_
38	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	39	advmod	_	_
39	scolded	scold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
43	on	on	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	fat	fat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | girl | girl's best |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Eventuality |
| 2 | **please** | to-infinitive | girl *not said here* | the old woman |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus woman=Experiencer |
| 3 | **shake** | past | girl *not said here* | girl's bed |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent bed=Patient |
| 4 | **fly** | past | the feathers | snow flakes |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location flake=Theme |
| 5 | **lead** | past | girl | a easy life |  |  |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **scold** | past · passive | girl *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP» |
| 7 | **live** | past | girl *not said here* |  |  | the fat of the land |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on fat=Location |

<!-- .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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