--- title: And the stepmother, who was watching, took them away, and dug a hole… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: And the stepmother, who was watching, took them away, and dug a hole in the corner of the palace, under the windows of the emperor, and put them in it, while in their stead she placed two little puppies. Who acts: stepmother. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Boys With the Go --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/35/33/) [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/) / [The Boys With the Golden Stars](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/35/) / 33 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Boys With the Golden Stars, sentence 33 And the stepmother, who was watching, took them away, and dug a hole in the corner of the palace, under the windows of the emperor, and put them in it, while in their stead she placed two little puppies. **Who acts:** stepmother · **What happens:** watch, take away, dig, put, place · **To what, where:** boys, hole, corner, palace, two little puppies, stead This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Boys With the Golden Stars. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stepmother), 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:pg641:35:33 # text = And the stepmother, who was watching, took them away, and dug a hole in the corner of the palace, under the windows of the emperor, and put them in it, while in their stead she placed two little puppies. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 stepmother stepmother NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 5 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 7 nsubj _ _ 6 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ _ 7 watching watch VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 3 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 9 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 10 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 obj _ _ 11 away away ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 14 dug dig VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 hole hole NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ _ 17 in in ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 corner corner NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 palace palace NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 24 under under ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 windows window NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 obl _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 emperor emperor NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 32 put put VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 conj _ _ 33 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 obj _ _ 34 in in ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 37 while while SCONJ IN _ 42 mark _ _ 38 in in ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 40 nmod:poss _ _ 40 stead stead NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obl _ _ 41 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 42 placed place VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 43 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 45 nummod _ _ 44 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 45 puppies puppy NOUN NNS Number=Plur 42 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **watch** | past · progressive | the stepmother | | | | | | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **take away** | past | the stepmother | boys *= boy* | | | | away *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | | 3 | **dig** | past | the stepmother *not said here* | a hole | | the corner of the palace | | under the windows of the emperor | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent hole=Theme under window=Location | | 4 | **put** | infinitive | the stepmother *not said here* | boys *= boy* | | palace | | | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme in it=Destination | | 5 | **place** | past | stepmother | two little puppies | | boys's stead | | | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent puppy=Theme in stead=Destination | 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 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/35/32/) - next →: [sentence 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/35/34/) - ↑ back to [The Boys With the Golden Stars](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/35/)