---
title: The Queen was more frightened than words can describe, and could nei… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The Queen was more frightened than words can describe, and could neither speak a word nor move from the place so as to awaken the King or the sailors. Who acts: Queen, words. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch in the Stone Boat(31), with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch in the Stone Boat(31), sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Queen was more frightened than words can describe, and could neither speak a word nor move from the place so as to awaken the King or the sailors.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Queen, words · **What happens:** be, describe, speak, awaken · **To what, where:** word, King · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Queen, words), 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:pg640:47:19
# text = The Queen was more frightened than words can describe, and could neither speak a word nor move from the place so as to awaken the King or the sailors.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	5	advmod	_	_
5	frightened	frightened	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
8	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	describe	describe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	neither	neither	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	speak	speak	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	18	cc	_	_
18	move	move	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	_
19	from	from	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	awaken	awaken	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	sailors	sailor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the Queen |  |  |  |  | frightened *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **describe** | can | words |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | could |  | a word nor move from the place |  |  |  | neither *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **awaken** | to-infinitive |  | the King or the sailors |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location king=Theme |

<!-- .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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