---
title: But the girl declared that she must first make her horse comfortable… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the girl declared that she must first make her horse comfortable in his stable; but this was really only an excuse, as she wanted to ask his advice on several matters. Who acts: girl, this. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2, with its
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the girl declared that she must first make her horse comfortable in his stable; but this was really only an excuse, as she wanted to ask his advice on several matters.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** girl, this · **What happens:** declare, make, be, want, ask · **To what, where:** horse, stable, excuse, advice, several matters · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .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 (girl, this), 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:pg641:39:8
# text = But the girl declared that she must first make her horse comfortable in his stable; but this was really only an excuse, as she wanted to ask his advice on several matters.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	declared	declare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	advmod	_	_
9	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
10	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	comfortable	comfortable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	stable	stable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
18	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
20	really	really	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
21	only	only	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
22	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	excuse	excuse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	advice	advice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	on	on	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	matters	matter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | the girl |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **make** | must | girl | girl's horse |  | other's stable |  | comfortable, first *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=Product |
| 3 | **is a** | past | this | a excuse |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **want** | past | girl |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | girl *not said here* | other's advice |  | several matters |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent advice=Recipient |

<!-- .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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