---
title: When the messengers came to fetch her she was terribly frightened, f… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the messengers came to fetch her she was terribly frightened, for she knew that it was her wicked stepmother who in this way was aiming at her life. Who acts: messengers, girl, stepdaughter, wicked stepmother. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 33, wit
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 33, sentence 8

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When the messengers came to fetch her she was terribly frightened, for she knew that it was her wicked stepmother who in this way was aiming at her life.

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**Who acts:** messengers, girl, stepdaughter, wicked stepmother · **What happens:** come, fetch, frighten, know, be, aim · **To what, where:** girl, wicked stepmother, way · **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 (messengers, girl, stepdaughter, wicked stepmother), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg5615:33:8
# text = When the messengers came to fetch her she was terribly frightened, for she knew that it was her wicked stepmother who in this way was aiming at her life.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	messengers	messenger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	fetch	fetch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
10	terribly	terribly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
19	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	wicked	wicked	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	ccomp	_	_
22	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	det	_	_
25	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	aiming	aim	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	acl:relcl	_	_
28	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the messengers |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **fetch** | to-infinitive | the messengers *not said here* | girl |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 3 | **frighten** | past · passive |  | girl |  |  |  | terribly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 4 | **know** | past | girl |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is a** | past | stepdaughter | girl's wicked stepmother |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **aim** | past · progressive | girl's wicked stepmother |  |  | this way |  | at girl's life | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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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