---
title: Then the poor girl returned to the well, and not knowing what she wa… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the poor girl returned to the well, and not knowing what she was about, in the despair and misery of her heart she sprang into the well and sank to the bottom. Who acts: poor girl, girl, heart. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mother Holle, part 1, with its dependency tree and
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Mother Holle, part 1, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the poor girl returned to the well, and not knowing what she was about, in the despair and misery of her heart she sprang into the well and sank to the bottom.

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**Who acts:** poor girl, girl, heart · **What happens:** return, not know, be, spring, sink, despair · **To what, where:** despair, heart, well

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (poor girl, girl, heart), 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:pg540:44:7
# text = Then the poor girl returned to the well, and not knowing what she was about, in the despair and misery of her heart she sprang into the well and sank to the bottom.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	well	well	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
13	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	12	obj	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	about	about	ADV	RB	_	13	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	despair	despair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	misery	misery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
26	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	acl:relcl	_	_
28	into	into	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	well	well	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	sank	sink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **return** | past | the poor girl |  |  |  | then | to the well *result* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to well=Result |
| 2 | **not** **know** | gerund | the poor girl *not said here* |  |  | the despair of girl's heart and misery |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is** | past | girl |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **spring** | past | girl | girl's heart *not said here* |  | the well |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **sink** | past | girl *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the bottom | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **despair** |  | girl's heart |  |  |  |  |  | nom despair «state intransitive»: of=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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