---
title: He was a pretty little creature, and instead of growing spoilt and d… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was a pretty little creature, and instead of growing spoilt and disagreeable at not getting everything he wanted, as even children will do sometimes, the dog was grateful to them for their kindness, and never left their side, whether they were in the house or out of it. Who acts: couple, children
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Envious Neighbour, sentence 2

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He was a pretty little creature, and instead of growing spoilt and disagreeable at not getting everything he wanted, as even children will do sometimes, the dog was grateful to them for their kindness, and never left their side, whether they were in the house or out of it.

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**Who acts:** couple, children, dog · **What happens:** be, spoil, not get, want, do, not leave · **To what, where:** pretty little creature, everything, children, side, house

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Envious Neighbour. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (couple, children, dog), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg641:18:2
# text = He was a pretty little creature, and instead of growing spoilt and disagreeable at not getting everything he wanted, as even children will do sometimes, the dog was grateful to them for their kindness, and never left their side, whether they were in the house or out of it.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	pretty	pretty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	12	mark	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	fixed	_	_
11	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	spoilt	spoil	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	disagreeable	disagreeable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	conj	_	_
15	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
17	getting	get	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
18	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	17	obj	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	even	even	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	parataxis	_	_
27	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
32	grateful	grateful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	conj	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	_
35	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	kindness	kindness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	41	advmod	_	_
41	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
42	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
45	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
46	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
47	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
48	in	in	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
51	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
52	out	out	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | couple | a pretty little creature |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **spoil** | gerund · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V» |
| 3 | **not** **get** | gerund |  | everything |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer everything=Stimulus |
| 4 | **want** | past | couple |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 5 | **do** | future | children |  |  |  |  | sometimes *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | past | the dog |  | children *= child* |  |  | for children's kindness; grateful *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **not** **leave** | past |  | children's side |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent side=Theme |
| 8 | **is** | past | children *= child* |  |  | the house |  |  | 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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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