---
title: But the princess, suspecting a trap, inquired roughly why they were… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the princess, suspecting a trap, inquired roughly why they were wasting the precious hours in the garden, when, as men, they should be in the stables looking after their horses. Who acts: princess, genius, stables. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to B
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the princess, suspecting a trap, inquired roughly why they were wasting the precious hours in the garden, when, as men, they should be in the stables looking after their horses.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** princess, genius, stables · **What happens:** suspect, inquire, waste, be, look · **To what, where:** trap, princess, men, garden, stables

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (princess, genius, stables), 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:pg641:39:19
# text = But the princess, suspecting a trap, inquired roughly why they were wasting the precious hours in the garden, when, as men, they should be in the stables looking after their horses.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	suspecting	suspect	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	trap	trap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	inquired	inquire	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
10	roughly	roughly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	wasting	waste	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	conj	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	precious	precious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
28	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	cop	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	stables	stable	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	_
33	looking	look	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	32	acl	_	_
34	after	after	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suspect** | gerund | the princess *not said here* | a trap |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent trap=Attribute |
| 2 | **inquire** *speech: other* | participle · passive |  | the princess |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 3 | **waste** | past · progressive | genius | men |  | the garden | hour |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient |
| 4 | **is** | should | genius |  |  | the stables |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **look** | gerund | the stables *not said here* |  |  |  | after genius's horses |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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