--- title: A maid came in to comb out her long hair, and brought the finest lin… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: A maid came in to comb out her long hair, and brought the finest linen for her use; but nothing gave Elsa so much joy as the little pair of embroidered shoes that she held in her hand, for the girl had hitherto been forced to run about barefoot by her cruel stepmother. Who acts: maid, nothing, embro --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/95/) [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/) / 95 # The Violet Fairy Book, A Tale of the Tontlawald, sentence 95 A maid came in to comb out her long hair, and brought the finest linen for her use; but nothing gave Elsa so much joy as the little pair of embroidered shoes that she held in her hand, for the girl had hitherto been forced to run about barefoot by her cruel stepmother. **Who acts:** maid, nothing, embroidered shoes, girl · **What happens:** come in, comb out, bring, give, embroider, hold · **To what, where:** long hair, finest linen, much joy, Elsa, hand, girl 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 (maid, nothing, embroidered shoes, girl), 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:pg641:2:95 # text = A maid came in to comb out her long hair, and brought the finest linen for her use; but nothing gave Elsa so much joy as the little pair of embroidered shoes that she held in her hand, for the girl had hitherto been forced to run about barefoot by her cruel stepmother. 1 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 maid maid NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 in in ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 6 mark _ _ 6 comb comb VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 advcl _ _ 7 out out ADP RP _ 6 compound:prt _ _ 8 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 10 nmod:poss _ _ 9 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 amod _ _ 10 hair hair NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 13 brought bring VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 15 finest fine ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 16 amod _ _ 16 linen linen NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ _ 17 for for ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 19 nmod:poss _ _ 19 use use NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 ; ; PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 21 but but CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 22 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 23 nsubj _ _ 23 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 24 Elsa Elsa PROPN NNP Number=Sing 23 iobj _ _ 25 so so ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 26 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 joy joy NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obj _ _ 28 as as ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 pair pair NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 embroidered embroider VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 34 amod _ _ 34 shoes shoe NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 nmod _ _ 35 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 37 nsubj _ _ 36 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 37 held hold VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 acl:relcl _ _ 38 in in ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 40 nmod:poss _ _ 40 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 42 for for SCONJ IN _ 48 mark _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 girl girl NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nsubj:pass _ _ 45 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 aux _ _ 46 hitherto hitherto ADV RB _ 48 advmod _ _ 47 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 48 aux:pass _ _ 48 forced force VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 23 conj _ _ 49 to to PART TO _ 50 mark _ _ 50 run run VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 48 xcomp _ _ 51 about about ADP IN _ 52 case _ _ 52 barefoot barefoot NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obl _ _ 53 by by ADP IN _ 56 case _ _ 54 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 56 nmod:poss _ _ 55 cruel cruel ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 56 amod _ _ 56 stepmother stepmother NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 57 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **come in** | past | a maid | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **comb out** | to-infinitive | a maid *not said here* | maid's long hair | | | | | vn braid-41.2.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hair=Patient | | 3 | **bring** | past | a maid *not said here* | the finest linen | | | | for maid's use | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent linen=Theme | | 4 | **give** | past | nothing | much joy | Elsa | | | as the little pair of embroidered shoes | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent elsa=Recipient joy=Theme | | 5 | **embroider** | participle | | | | | | | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **hold** | past | embroidered shoes | | | Elsa's hand | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in hand=Location | | 7 | **force** | past · perfect · passive | | the girl | | | | hitherto *property* | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic | | 8 | **run** | to-infinitive | the girl *not said here* | | | | | about barefoot; by Elsa's cruel stepmother | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme about barefoot=Trajectory | | 9 | **use** | | maid | | | | | | nom use «act transitive»: poss=agent | 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 94](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/94/) - next →: [sentence 96](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/96/) - ↑ back to [A Tale of the Tontlawald](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/)