--- title: In vain the poor girl tried to explain how the lock of hair came int… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: In vain the poor girl tried to explain how the lock of hair came into her possession; the emperor would listen to nothing, and, bowing low, she left his presence and went to consult Sunlight what she was to do. Who acts: poor girl, lock, emperor, girl. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/69/) [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/) / 69 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2, sentence 69 In vain the poor girl tried to explain how the lock of hair came into her possession; the emperor would listen to nothing, and, bowing low, she left his presence and went to consult Sunlight what she was to do. **Who acts:** poor girl, lock, emperor, girl · **What happens:** try, explain, come, listen, bow, leave · **To what, where:** possession, presence, Sunlight 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 (poor girl, lock, emperor, 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:pg641:39:69 # text = In vain the poor girl tried to explain how the lock of hair came into her possession; the emperor would listen to nothing, and, bowing low, she left his presence and went to consult Sunlight what she was to do. 1 In in ADP IN _ 2 case _ _ 2 vain vain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 obl _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 4 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 girl girl NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 6 tried try VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 8 explain explain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 xcomp _ _ 9 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 14 advmod _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 lock lock NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 12 of of ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 13 hair hair NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod _ _ 14 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 advcl _ _ 15 into into ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 17 nmod:poss _ _ 17 possession possession NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 ; ; PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 emperor emperor NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nsubj _ _ 21 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 22 listen listen VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 23 to to ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 22 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 28 bowing bow VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 32 advcl _ _ 29 low low ADV RB Degree=Pos 28 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 31 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 32 left leave VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 parataxis _ _ 33 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 34 presence presence NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obj _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 conj _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 consult consult VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 xcomp _ _ 39 Sunlight Sunlight PROPN NNP Number=Sing 38 obj _ _ 40 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 44 obj _ _ 41 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 nsubj _ _ 42 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 44 cop _ _ 43 to to PART TO _ 44 mark _ _ 44 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 22 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **try** | past | the poor girl | | | | | | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **explain** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the poor girl *not said here* | | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **come** | past | the lock of hair | | | lock's possession | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into possession=Initial\_Location | | 4 | **listen** | would | the emperor | | | | | to nothing; in vain | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in vain=Theme | | 5 | **bow** | gerund | girl *not said here* | | | | | low *property* | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **leave** | past | girl | two's presence | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent presence=Theme | | 7 | **go** | past | girl *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 8 | **consult** | to-infinitive | girl *not said here* | Sunlight | | | | | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sunlight=Theme | | 9 | **is** | past | girl | | | | | do *property* | tree rules | | 10 | **possess** | | lock | | | | | | nom possession «act transitive»: poss=agent | 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 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/68/) - next →: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/70/) - ↑ back to [The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/)