---
title: Then the princes thought that there was something in what the old wo… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the princes thought that there was something in what the old woman had said about their mother, and being, of course, eager to save their lives, they shouted to her, and promised that she should have their brother if she would deliver them from this danger. Who acts: princes, something, old wom
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 25, sentence 100

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the princes thought that there was something in what the old woman had said about their mother, and being, of course, eager to save their lives, they shouted to her, and promised that she should have their brother if she would deliver them from this danger.

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**Who acts:** princes, something, old woman, woman · **What happens:** think, be, say, save, shout, promise · **To what, where:** lives, mother, brother, princes, danger · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 25. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (princes, something, old woman, 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:pg5615:25:100
# text = Then the princes thought that there was something in what the old woman had said about their mother, and being, of course, eager to save their lives, they shouted to her, and promised that she should have their brother if she would deliver them from this danger.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	princes	prince	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	7	expl	_	_
7	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
8	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	7	nsubj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nmod	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	acl:relcl	_	_
16	about	about	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
21	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	eager	eager	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	shouted	shout	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	promised	promise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
39	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
40	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	ccomp	_	_
43	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
45	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
46	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	deliver	deliver	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	advcl	_	_
49	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	from	from	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	52	det	_	_
52	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the princes |  |  |  | then |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **be** | past | something |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | the old woman |  |  |  |  | about princes's mother | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | eager *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **save** | to-infinitive |  | princes's lives |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Theme |
| 6 | **shout** *speech: express* | past | princes *= prince* |  | mother |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to she=Recipient |
| 7 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past | the princes *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **have** | should | woman | princes's brother |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brother=Patient |
| 9 | **deliver** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | woman | princes *= prince* |  | this danger |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent they=Theme from danger=Initial\_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 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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