---
title: For the step-mother was very cruel to the twins, and beat them, and… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: For the step-mother was very cruel to the twins, and beat them, and half-starved them, and constantly drove them out of the house; for her one idea was to get them out of the way. Who acts: one idea. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch (28), with its dependency tree and t
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch (28), sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
For the step-mother was very cruel to the twins, and beat them, and half-starved them, and constantly drove them out of the house; for her one idea was to get them out of the way.

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**Who acts:** one idea · **What happens:** be, beat, starve, drive · **To what, where:** children, house, way

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch (28). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one idea), 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:pg640:39:5
# text = For the step-mother was very cruel to the twins, and beat them, and half-starved them, and constantly drove them out of the house; for her one idea was to get them out of the way.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	cruel	cruel	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	twins	twin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	beat	beat	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	20	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	starved	starve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	constantly	constantly	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	drove	drive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
26	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	out	out	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
32	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
33	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
34	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	nummod	_	_
35	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	parataxis	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	_
40	out	out	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | for the step mother; to the twins; cruel *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **beat** | infinitive |  | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location they=Theme |
| 3 | **starve** | participle |  | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **drive** | past |  | children *= child* |  | the house |  | constantly *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent they=Theme out house=Trajectory |
| 5 | **is** | past | order's one idea |  |  | the way |  | get *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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