---
title: And now, because he was afraid that their stepmother might not treat… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And now, because he was afraid that their stepmother might not treat them well and might do them harm, he put them in a lonely castle that stood in the middle of a wood. Who acts: king, stepmother, lonely castle. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Six Swans, with its dependenc
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Six Swans, sentence 13

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And now, because he was afraid that their stepmother might not treat them well and might do them harm, he put them in a lonely castle that stood in the middle of a wood.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** king, stepmother, lonely castle · **What happens:** be, not treat, do, harm, put, stand · **To what, where:** boys, lonely castle, middle

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Six Swans. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, stepmother, lonely castle), 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:pg640:4:13
# text = And now, because he was afraid that their stepmother might not treat them well and might do them harm, he put them in a lonely castle that stood in the middle of a wood.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
11	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	treat	treat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	harm	harm	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	lonely	lonely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
29	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	_
30	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | king |  |  |  | now | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **treat** | might | boys's stepmother | boys *= boy* |  |  |  | well *property* | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 3 | **do** | might | boys's stepmother *not said here* | boys *= boy* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **harm** | infinitive | boys's stepmother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **put** | past | king | boys *= boy* |  | a lonely castle |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme in castle=Destination |
| 6 | **stand** | past | a lonely castle |  |  | the middle of a wood |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in middle=Location |

<!-- .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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