--- title: Then the hostess turned round and whispered something to a maid behi… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Then the hostess turned round and whispered something to a maid behind her chair, and the maid left the hall, and when she came back she brought a little old man with her, who had a beard longer than himself. Who acts: hostess, maid. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, A Tale of th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/76/) [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/) / 76 # The Violet Fairy Book, A Tale of the Tontlawald, sentence 76 Then the hostess turned round and whispered something to a maid behind her chair, and the maid left the hall, and when she came back she brought a little old man with her, who had a beard longer than himself. **Who acts:** hostess, maid · **What happens:** turn round, whisper, leave, come back, bring, have · **To what, where:** something, maid, hall, little old man, beard 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 (hostess, maid), 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:pg641:2:76 # text = Then the hostess turned round and whispered something to a maid behind her chair, and the maid left the hall, and when she came back she brought a little old man with her, who had a beard longer than himself. 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 4 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 hostess hostess NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 turned turn VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 round round ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 7 whispered whisper VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 8 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 7 obj _ _ 9 to to ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 maid maid NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 12 behind behind ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 14 chair chair NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 maid maid NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nsubj _ _ 19 left leave VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 hall hall NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 24 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 26 advmod _ _ 25 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 advcl _ _ 27 back back ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 28 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 brought bring VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 30 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 31 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 32 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 33 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obj _ _ 34 with with ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 37 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 38 nsubj _ _ 38 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 conj _ _ 39 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 beard beard NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obj _ _ 41 longer long ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 38 advmod _ _ 42 than than ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **turn round** | past | the hostess | | | | then | round *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | past | the hostess *not said here* | something | a maid behind hostess's chair | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent something=Topic to maid=Recipient | | 3 | **leave** | past | the maid | the hall | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hall=Theme | | 4 | **come back** | past | maid | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **bring** | past | maid | | a little old man | | | with hostess | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument man=Destination | | 6 | **have** | past | | a beard | | | | long *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent beard=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 75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/75/) - next →: [sentence 77](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/77/) - ↑ back to [A Tale of the Tontlawald](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/)