---
title: Catherine was so taken by surprise that she did not know what to ans… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Catherine was so taken by surprise that she did not know what to answer, and the lady repeated again, ‘Which would you rather have-a happy youth or a happy old age?’ Who acts: surprise, woman. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 18, with its dependency tree 
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 18, sentence 72

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Catherine was so taken by surprise that she did not know what to answer, and the lady repeated again, ‘Which would you rather have-a happy youth or a happy old age?’

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**Who acts:** surprise, woman · **What happens:** take, not know, answer, repeat, have · **To what, where:** Catherine, lady · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (surprise, woman), 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:pg5615:18:72
# text = Catherine was so taken by surprise that she did not know what to answer, and the lady repeated again, ‘Which would you rather have-a happy youth or a happy old age?’
1	Catherine	Catherine	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
12	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	obj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	answer	answer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	_
19	repeated	repeat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	acl	_	_
20	again	again	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
25	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	_
32	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
34	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
35	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past · passive | surprise | Catherine |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument subject=Destination |
| 2 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 4 | **repeat** | participle |  | the lady and a happy youth or a happy old age *not said here* |  |  | again |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **have** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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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