---
title: One day they paid more attention than usual when they heard her talk… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: One day they paid more attention than usual when they heard her talk, and put their ears close to a crack in the wall between the rooms, and heard the Queen say quite plainly, ‘When I yawn a little, then I am a nice little maiden; when I yawn half-way, then I am half a troll; and when I yawn fully, 
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch in the Stone Boat(31), sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One day they paid more attention than usual when they heard her talk, and put their ears close to a crack in the wall between the rooms, and heard the Queen say quite plainly, ‘When I yawn a little, then I am a nice little maiden; when I yawn half-way, then I am half a troll; and when I yawn fully, then I am a troll altogether.’

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**Who acts:** fellows, Queen, I · **What happens:** pay, hear, put, say, yawn, be · **To what, where:** more attention, talk, ears, little, half way, troll · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (fellows, Queen, I), 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:pg640:47:36
# text = One day they paid more attention than usual when they heard her talk, and put their ears close to a crack in the wall between the rooms, and heard the Queen say quite plainly, ‘When I yawn a little, then I am a nice little maiden; when I yawn half-way, then I am half a troll; and when I yawn fully, then I am a troll altogether.’
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	paid	pay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	amod	_	_
6	attention	attention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	obl	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	talk	talk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
19	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	crack	crack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
26	between	between	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	rooms	room	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	ccomp	_	_
35	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	plainly	plainly	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	41	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	41	advmod	_	_
40	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	yawn	yawn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	parataxis	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
45	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	51	advmod	_	_
46	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
47	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
48	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
49	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
50	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	maiden	maiden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	55	punct	_	_
53	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	55	advmod	_	_
54	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
55	yawn	yawn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
56	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	58	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	56	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
60	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	65	advmod	_	_
61	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	65	nsubj	_	_
62	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	65	cop	_	_
63	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	65	det:predet	_	_
64	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	65	det	_	_
65	troll	troll	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
67	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	70	cc	_	_
68	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	70	advmod	_	_
69	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	70	nsubj	_	_
70	yawn	yawn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	55	conj	_	_
71	fully	fully	ADV	RB	_	70	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	77	punct	_	_
73	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	77	advmod	_	_
74	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	77	nsubj	_	_
75	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	77	cop	_	_
76	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	77	det	_	_
77	troll	troll	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	_
78	altogether	altogether	ADV	RB	_	77	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
79	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	77	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
80	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	77	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | past | fellows *= fellow* | more attention |  |  | day | than usual | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attention=Asset |
| 2 | **hear** | past | fellows *= fellow* | Queen's talk |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer talk=Stimulus |
| 3 | **put** | infinitive | fellows *= fellow* *not said here* | fellows's ears |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent ear=Goal |
| 4 | **hear** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the Queen |  |  |  |  | plainly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **yawn** | present | I | a little |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  | then | maiden *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **yawn** | present | I | half way |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
| 9 | **is a** | present | I | half troll |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **yawn** | present | I |  |  |  |  | fully *property* | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **is a** | present | I | a troll |  |  | then | altogether *property* | tree rules |
| 12 | **talk** |  | Queen |  |  |  |  |  | nom talk «communication intransitive»: 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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