---
title: It was the duty of the nuns to watch the light in turns, that it mig… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was the duty of the nuns to watch the light in turns, that it might never go out, and if anyone of them let it go out the others put her to death. Who acts: light, anyone, others. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 4, sentence 6

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was the duty of the nuns to watch the light in turns, that it might never go out, and if anyone of them let it go out the others put her to death.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** light, anyone, others · **What happens:** be, watch, not go out, let, go out, put · **To what, where:** duty, light, turns, convent

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (light, anyone, others), 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:pg640:13:6
# text = It was the duty of the nuns to watch the light in turns, that it might never go out, and if anyone of them let it go out the others put her to death.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	duty	duty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	nuns	nun	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	watch	watch	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	turns	turn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
20	out	out	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	27	nsubj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nmod	_	_
27	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	parataxis	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	out	out	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj	_	_
33	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	parataxis	_	_
34	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	to	to	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | light | the duty |  |  |  | of the nuns | tree rules |
| 2 | **watch** | to-infinitive |  | the light |  | turns |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent light=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **go out** | might | light |  |  |  |  | out *property* | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **let** *a condition, not said to happen* | infinitive | anyone | light |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **go out** | infinitive | light *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **put** | past | the others |  | convent |  |  | to death | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent she=Goal |

<!-- .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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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