--- title: The genius scoffed, and inquired what female hand could ever wield a… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The genius scoffed, and inquired what female hand could ever wield a sabre like that; but, in spite of his sneers, his mother persisted, and as a proof of what she said, laid at night on each of their pillows a handful of magic flowers, that fade at the touch of man, but remain eternally fresh in th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/10/) [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/pg641/39/) / 10 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2, sentence 10 The genius scoffed, and inquired what female hand could ever wield a sabre like that; but, in spite of his sneers, his mother persisted, and as a proof of what she said, laid at night on each of their pillows a handful of magic flowers, that fade at the touch of man, but remain eternally fresh in the fingers of a woman. **Who acts:** genius, female hand, spite, girl, magic flowers, hand · **What happens:** scoff, inquire, wield, persist, say, lay · **To what, where:** genius, sabre, proof, touch, sneers, man · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (genius, female hand, spite, 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:pg641:39:10 # text = The genius scoffed, and inquired what female hand could ever wield a sabre like that; but, in spite of his sneers, his mother persisted, and as a proof of what she said, laid at night on each of their pillows a handful of magic flowers, that fade at the touch of man, but remain eternally fresh in the fingers of a woman. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 genius genius NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 3 scoffed scoff VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 5 and and CCONJ CC _ 6 cc _ _ 6 inquired inquire VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 12 obj _ _ 8 female female ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nsubj _ _ 10 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 12 aux _ _ 11 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 12 advmod _ _ 12 wield wield VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 ccomp _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 sabre sabre NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ _ 15 like like ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 16 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 14 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ; ; PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 18 but but CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 20 in in ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 21 spite spite NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nsubj _ _ 22 of of ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 24 nmod:poss _ _ 24 sneers sneer NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 26 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 conj _ _ 28 persisted persist VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 31 as as ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 proof proof NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 parataxis _ _ 34 of of ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 what what PRON WP PronType=Rel 33 nmod _ _ 36 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 37 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 39 laid lay VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 33 acl _ _ 40 at at ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ _ 42 on on ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 41 nmod _ _ 44 of of ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 46 nmod:poss _ _ 46 pillows pillow NOUN NNS Number=Plur 43 nmod _ _ 47 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 handful handful NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 appos _ _ 49 of of ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 magic magic NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 compound _ _ 51 flowers flower NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 52 , , PUNCT , _ 54 punct _ _ 53 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 54 nsubj _ _ 54 fade fade VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 51 acl:relcl _ _ 55 at at ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 56 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 57 det _ _ 57 touch touch NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 obl _ _ 58 of of ADP IN _ 59 case _ _ 59 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 57 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 60 , , PUNCT , _ 62 punct _ _ 61 but but CCONJ CC _ 62 cc _ _ 62 remain remain VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 63 eternally eternally ADV RB _ 64 advmod _ _ 64 fresh fresh ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 62 xcomp _ _ 65 in in ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 66 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 67 det _ _ 67 fingers finger NOUN NNS Number=Plur 64 obl _ _ 68 of of ADP IN _ 70 case _ _ 69 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 70 det _ _ 70 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 67 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 71 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **scoff** | participle | | the genius *not said here* | | | | | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **inquire** *speech: other* | past | the genius | | | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **wield** | could | female hand | a sabre | | | ever | like that | tree rules | | 4 | **persist** | past | spite of hand's sneers and hand's mother | | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | girl | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **lay** | participle | | a proof *not said here* | | | night | | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **fade** | present | magic flowers | | | the touch of man | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 8 | **remain** | present | the genius *not said here* | | | | | fresh *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 9 | **spite** | | | hand's sneers | | | | | nom spite «feeling transitive»: of=patient | | 10 | **sneer** | | hand | | | | | | nom sneer «communication intransitive»: poss=agent | | 11 | **touch** | | | man | | | | | nom touch «event 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 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/9/) - next →: [sentence 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/11/) - ↑ back to [The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/)