---
title: It became now a general belief that the princess’s ghost walked, and… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It became now a general belief that the princess’s ghost walked, and ate up all those who were to guard her chest, and very soon there was no one left who would be placed on this duty, and the king’s soldiers deserted the service, before their turn came to be her bodyguard. Who acts: Chest, ghost, o
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 117

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It became now a general belief that the princess’s ghost walked, and ate up all those who were to guard her chest, and very soon there was no one left who would be placed on this duty, and the king’s soldiers deserted the service, before their turn came to be her bodyguard.

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**Who acts:** Chest, ghost, one, soldiers, turn, princess · **What happens:** become, walk, eat up, guard, be, leave · **To what, where:** general belief, those, chest, one, duty, service

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Chest, ghost, one, soldiers), 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:pg5615:6:117
# text = It became now a general belief that the princess’s ghost walked, and ate up all those who were to guard her chest, and very soon there was no one left who would be placed on this duty, and the king’s soldiers deserted the service, before their turn came to be her bodyguard.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	general	general	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	belief	belief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	xcomp	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’s	's	PART	POS	_	9	case	_	_
11	ghost	ghost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
16	up	up	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	18	det:predet	_	_
18	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	15	obj	_	_
19	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	guard	guard	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl:relcl	_	_
23	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	chest	chest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
27	very	very	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	47	advmod	_	_
29	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	30	expl	_	_
30	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	advcl	_	_
31	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	32	det	_	_
32	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
33	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	acl	_	_
34	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	conj	_	_
38	on	on	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	40	det	_	_
40	duty	duty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	’s	's	PART	POS	_	44	case	_	_
46	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nsubj	_	_
47	deserted	desert	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	service	service	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
51	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
52	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
53	turn	turn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nsubj	_	_
54	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	conj	_	_
55	to	to	PART	TO	_	58	mark	_	_
56	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	cop	_	_
57	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	bodyguard	bodyguard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past | Chest | a general belief |  |  | now |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **walk** | past | the princess's ghost | a general belief *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme belief=Trajectory |
| 3 | **eat up** | past | Chest *not said here* | those |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Patient |
| 4 | **guard** | past | Chest *not said here* | Princess's chest |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chest=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **be** | past | no one |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **leave** | participle |  | no one *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **place** | would · passive |  |  |  | this duty |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme on duty=Destination |
| 8 | **desert** | past | the king's soldiers | the service |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn leave-51.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme service=Source |
| 9 | **come** | past | king's turn |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **is a** | to-infinitive | king's turn *not said here* | Princess's bodyguard |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **ghost** |  | the princess |  |  |  |  |  | nom ghost «cognition transitive»: poss=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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