--- title: On the steps of the castle her father was standing, and as still tre… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: On the steps of the castle her father was standing, and as still trembling with fright she knelt at his feet, he said gently, ‘Did I not tell you, my child, that every bird is not caught in a net?’ Who acts: father, sister, I. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Preten --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/38/57/) [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 Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, pa…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/38/) / 57 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 1, sentence 57 On the steps of the castle her father was standing, and as still trembling with fright she knelt at his feet, he said gently, ‘Did I not tell you, my child, that every bird is not caught in a net?’ **Who acts:** father, sister, I · **What happens:** stand, tremble, kneel, say, not tell, not catch · **To what, where:** castle, fright, feet, child, you, bird · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (father, sister, I), 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:pg641:38:57 # text = On the steps of the castle her father was standing, and as still trembling with fright she knelt at his feet, he said gently, ‘Did I not tell you, my child, that every bird is not caught in a net?’ 1 On on ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 steps step NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 obl _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 castle castle NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nmod _ _ 7 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 8 nmod:poss _ _ 8 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ _ 9 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 aux _ _ 10 standing stand VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 6 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 13 as as SCONJ IN _ 15 mark _ _ 14 still still ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 15 trembling tremble VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 10 conj _ _ 16 with with ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 fright fright NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ _ 18 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 knelt kneel VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 acl:relcl _ _ 20 at at ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 22 nmod:poss _ _ 22 feet foot NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 26 gently gently ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 28 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 32 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 29 Did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 30 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 31 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 32 advmod _ _ 32 tell tell VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 25 ccomp _ _ 33 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 32 iobj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 35 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 child child NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 38 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 40 det _ _ 39 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 40 det _ _ 40 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nsubj:pass _ _ 41 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 43 aux:pass _ _ 42 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 43 advmod _ _ 43 caught catch VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 25 parataxis _ _ 44 in in ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 net net NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 ? ? PUNCT . _ 43 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 43 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **stand** | past · progressive | sister's father | the castle *not said here* | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer castle=Stimulus | | 2 | **tremble** | gerund | sister's father *not said here* | | | | still | with fright | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **kneel** | past | sister | fright *not said here* | | father's feet | | | vn curtsey-40.3.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fright=Topic | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | father | | | | | on the steps of the castle; gently *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | past · do-support | I | my child | you | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient | | 6 | **not** **catch** | present · passive | | that bird | | a net | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 7 | **step** | | | the castle | | | | | nom step «act transitive»: of=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 56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/38/56/) - next →: [sentence 58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/38/58/) - ↑ back to [The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/38/)