---
title: Although the horse had informed the princess the dragon was really h… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Although the horse had informed the princess the dragon was really her own father, the girl had hardly believed him, and stared in amazement at the transformation. Who acts: princess. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 1, with its dependenc
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 1, sentence 117

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Although the horse had informed the princess the dragon was really her own father, the girl had hardly believed him, and stared in amazement at the transformation.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** princess · **What happens:** inform, be, believe, stare · **To what, where:** horse, own father, girl · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (princess), 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:pg641:38:117
# text = Although the horse had informed the princess the dragon was really her own father, the girl had hardly believed him, and stared in amazement at the transformation.
1	Although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	informed	inform	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
11	really	really	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
12	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	believed	believe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	advcl	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	stared	stare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	amazement	amazement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	transformation	transformation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **inform** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive |  | the horse |  |  |  |  | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the princess | dragon's own father |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **believe** | past · perfect · passive |  | the girl |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme he=Eventuality |
| 4 | **stare** | past |  |  |  |  |  | at the transformation; in amazement | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in amazement=Theme |

<!-- .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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