---
title: The neighbours were very kind, and would have done anything they cou… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The neighbours were very kind, and would have done anything they could to help their poor friends, but the old couple felt that since everything had changed they would rather go elsewhere, so one day they set off to bury themselves in the country, taking their daughter with them. Who acts: neighbour
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Maiden With the Wooden Helmet, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The neighbours were very kind, and would have done anything they could to help their poor friends, but the old couple felt that since everything had changed they would rather go elsewhere, so one day they set off to bury themselves in the country, taking their daughter with them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** neighbours, old couple · **What happens:** be, do, help, feel, change, go · **To what, where:** anything, poor friends, everything, neighbours, country, daughter

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Maiden With the Wooden Helmet. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (neighbours, old couple), 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:pg641:31:3
# text = The neighbours were very kind, and would have done anything they could to help their poor friends, but the old couple felt that since everything had changed they would rather go elsewhere, so one day they set off to bury themselves in the country, taking their daughter with them.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	aux	_	_
10	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	parataxis	_	_
11	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	10	obj	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	acl:relcl	_	_
16	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
17	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	couple	couple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	changed	change	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	ccomp	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
31	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	ccomp	_	_
34	elsewhere	elsewhere	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
36	so	so	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
37	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	38	nummod	_	_
38	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl:unmarked	_	_
39	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
41	off	off	ADP	RP	_	40	compound:prt	_	_
42	to	to	PART	TO	_	43	mark	_	_
43	bury	bury	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	xcomp	_	_
44	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	43	obj	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
49	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	43	advcl	_	_
50	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	_
52	with	with	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the neighbours |  |  |  |  | kind *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | would · perfect |  | anything |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Eventuality |
| 3 | **help** | could | neighbours *= neighbour* | anything *not said here* | neighbours's poor friends |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent friend=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **feel** | past | the old couple |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **change** | past · perfect · passive |  | everything |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **go** | would | neighbours *= neighbour* |  |  |  |  | elsewhere *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **set off** | past | neighbours *= neighbour* |  |  |  | day |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **bury** | to-infinitive | neighbours *= neighbour* *not said here* | neighbours *= neighbour* |  | the country |  |  | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme in country=Destination |
| 9 | **take** | gerund | neighbours *= neighbour* *not said here* |  | neighbours's daughter |  |  | with neighbours *= neighbour* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument daughter=Destination |

<!-- .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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