---
title: When she had written a letter to the king to tell him of this her st… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When she had written a letter to the king to tell him of this her stepmother asked leave to comb her hair for her, as her own mother used to do. Who acts: queen, stepmother, own mother. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 33, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 33, sentence 53

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When she had written a letter to the king to tell him of this her stepmother asked leave to comb her hair for her, as her own mother used to do.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** queen, stepmother, own mother · **What happens:** write, tell, ask, leave, comb, use · **To what, where:** letter, king, hair · **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 33. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (queen, stepmother, own mother), 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:pg5615:33:53
# text = When she had written a letter to the king to tell him of this her stepmother asked leave to comb her hair for her, as her own mother used to do.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	written	write	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	iobj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	obl	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
18	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	comb	comb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
27	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
30	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past · perfect | queen | a letter | the king |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent letter=Topic to king=Recipient |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | queen *not said here* |  | letter |  |  | of this | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | queen's stepmother |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **leave** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **comb** | to-infinitive |  | queen's hair |  |  |  | for queen | vn search-35.2 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent hair=Location for she=Theme |
| 6 | **use** | past | queen's own mother |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **do** | to-infinitive | queen's own mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: 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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