---
title: But she was especially distressed on the beautiful white butterfly’s… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But she was especially distressed on the beautiful white butterfly’s account, as she had tied him fast, so that if he could not get away he must starve to death. Who acts: THUMBELINA, butterfly, beautiful white butterfly. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch in the Stone B
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch in the Stone Boat(31), sentence 114

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But she was especially distressed on the beautiful white butterfly’s account, as she had tied him fast, so that if he could not get away he must starve to death.

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**Who acts:** THUMBELINA, butterfly, beautiful white butterfly · **What happens:** distress, tie, not get away, starve, account · **To what, where:** THUMBELINA, account, butterfly

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch in the Stone Boat(31). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (THUMBELINA, butterfly, beautiful white butterfly), 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:pg640:47:114
# text = But she was especially distressed on the beautiful white butterfly’s account, as she had tied him fast, so that if he could not get away he must starve to death.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	distressed	distress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	butterfly	butterfly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’s	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
21	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	csubj	_	_
28	away	away	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	starve	starve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **distress** | past · passive |  | THUMBELINA |  | the beautiful white butterfly's account |  | especially *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **tie** | past · perfect | THUMBELINA | butterfly |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 3 | **not** **get away** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | butterfly |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn withdraw-82-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **starve** | must | butterfly |  |  |  |  | to death | tree rules |
| 5 | **account** |  | the beautiful white butterfly |  |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication 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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