---
title: But no sooner had they finished their first bows and curtseys than a… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But no sooner had they finished their first bows and curtseys than a slight breeze sprung up, and began to sway the princess, whose equerries had retired out of respect. Who acts: princesses. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 29, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 29, sentence 126

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But no sooner had they finished their first bows and curtseys than a slight breeze sprung up, and began to sway the princess, whose equerries had retired out of respect.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** princesses · **What happens:** have, finish, spring up, begin, sway, retire · **To what, where:** first bows, slight breeze, princess, equerries, respect

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (princesses), 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:pg5615:29:126
# text = But no sooner had they finished their first bows and curtseys than a slight breeze sprung up, and began to sway the princess, whose equerries had retired out of respect.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
3	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	4	advmod	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	finished	finish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	amod	_	_
9	bows	bow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	curtseys	curtsey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
12	than	than	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	slight	slight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	breeze	breeze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
16	sprung	spring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl	_	_
17	up	up	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	sway	sway	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	equerries	equerry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	retired	retire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl:relcl	_	_
30	out	out	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	respect	respect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | princesses *= princess* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **finish** | past | princesses *= princess* | princesses's first bows and curtseys |  |  |  | than a slight breeze | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality bow=Eventuality |
| 3 | **spring up** | participle |  | a slight breeze *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **begin** | past | princesses *= princess* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **sway** | to-infinitive | princesses *= princess* *not said here* | the princess |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location princess=Theme |
| 6 | **retire** | past · perfect · passive |  | equerries |  | respect |  |  | vn resign-10.11-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute |

<!-- .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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