---
title: In vain did the poor old father weep and implore her pity; she was f… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In vain did the poor old father weep and implore her pity; she was firm, and he dared not gainsay her. Who acts: girl, frost. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of King Frost (26), with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Story of King Frost (26), sentence 8

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In vain did the poor old father weep and implore her pity; she was firm, and he dared not gainsay her.

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**Who acts:** girl, frost · **What happens:** do, implore, be, gainsay, pity · **To what, where:** poor old father weep, pity, girl

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of King Frost (26). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (girl, frost), 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:pg640:37:8
# text = In vain did the poor old father weep and implore her pity; she was firm, and he dared not gainsay her.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	advcl	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
5	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	weep	weep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	implore	implore	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	pity	pity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	firm	firm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	dared	dare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
22	gainsay	gainsay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
23	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | girl *not said here* | the poor old father weep |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent weep=Eventuality |
| 2 | **implore** | infinitive | girl *not said here* | girl's pity |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pity=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | past | girl |  |  |  |  | firm *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **gainsay** | past | frost | girl |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **pity** |  | girl |  |  |  |  |  | nom pity «feeling 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 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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