--- title: At first a language was often spoken at meals which was strange to E… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: At first a language was often spoken at meals which was strange to Elsa, but by the help of the lady and her daughter she began slowly to understand it, though it was years before she was able to speak it herself. Who acts: meals, daughter, language. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew L --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/120/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Violet Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/) / [A Tale of the Tontlawald](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/) / 120 # The Violet Fairy Book, A Tale of the Tontlawald, sentence 120 At first a language was often spoken at meals which was strange to Elsa, but by the help of the lady and her daughter she began slowly to understand it, though it was years before she was able to speak it herself. **Who acts:** meals, daughter, language · **What happens:** speak, be, begin, understand, help · **To what, where:** language, meals, Elsa, years, lady · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, A Tale of the Tontlawald. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (meals, daughter, language), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg641:2:120 # text = At first a language was often spoken at meals which was strange to Elsa, but by the help of the lady and her daughter she began slowly to understand it, though it was years before she was able to speak it herself. 1 At at SCONJ IN _ 7 mark _ _ 2 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 7 advmod _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 language language NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj:pass _ _ 5 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 aux:pass _ _ 6 often often ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 7 spoken speak VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 27 advcl _ _ 8 at at ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 meals meal NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 obl _ _ 10 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 12 nsubj _ _ 11 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 cop _ _ 12 strange strange ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 acl:relcl _ _ 13 to to ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 Elsa Elsa PROPN NNP Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 16 but but CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 17 by by ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 help help NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 lady lady NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nmod _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 24 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 25 daughter daughter NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 conj _ _ 26 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 28 slowly slowly ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 29 to to PART TO _ 30 mark _ _ 30 understand understand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 xcomp _ _ 31 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 33 though though SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 35 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 cop _ _ 36 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obl _ _ 37 before before SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 38 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 39 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 cop _ _ 40 able able ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 acl _ _ 41 to to PART TO _ 42 mark _ _ 42 speak speak VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 40 xcomp _ _ 43 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 obj _ _ 44 herself herself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 27 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · passive | | a language | | meals | | first, often *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **is** | past | meals | | Elsa | | | strange *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **begin** | past | daughter | | | | | by the help of the lady and lady's daughter; slowly *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 4 | **understand** | to-infinitive | daughter *not said here* | language | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | | 5 | **is a** | past | language | years | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **is** | past | daughter | years *not said here* | | | | able *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **speak** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | daughter *not said here* | language | | | | daughter *obl* | tree rules | | 8 | **help** | | | the lady and lady's daughter | | | | | nom help «act transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 119](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/119/) - next →: [sentence 121](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/121/) - ↑ back to [A Tale of the Tontlawald](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/)