--- title: Then Sunlight told the princess what she was to do, and the girl ste… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Then Sunlight told the princess what she was to do, and the girl stepped softly over the sleeping nun, and crept like a cat along the dark aisle, feeling the wall with her fingers, lest she should fall over something and ruin it all by a noise. Who acts: Sunlight, princess, girl. A sentence of «The --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/40/68/) [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/pg641/40/) / 68 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 3, sentence 68 Then Sunlight told the princess what she was to do, and the girl stepped softly over the sleeping nun, and crept like a cat along the dark aisle, feeling the wall with her fingers, lest she should fall over something and ruin it all by a noise. **Who acts:** Sunlight, princess, girl · **What happens:** tell, be, step, sleep, creep, feel · **To what, where:** princess, dark aisle, wall, something · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sunlight, princess, 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:pg641:40:68 # text = Then Sunlight told the princess what she was to do, and the girl stepped softly over the sleeping nun, and crept like a cat along the dark aisle, feeling the wall with her fingers, lest she should fall over something and ruin it all by a noise. 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 3 advmod _ _ 2 Sunlight Sunlight PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 princess princess NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ 6 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 10 obj _ _ 7 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 8 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 cop _ _ 9 to to PART TO _ 10 mark _ _ 10 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 girl girl NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nsubj _ _ 15 stepped step VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 16 softly softly ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 17 over over ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 sleeping sleep VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 20 amod _ _ 20 nun nun NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 crept creep VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 24 like like ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 cat cat NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ _ 27 along along ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 29 dark dark ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 30 aisle aisle NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 32 feeling feel VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 23 advcl _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 wall wall NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obj _ _ 35 with with ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 37 nmod:poss _ _ 37 fingers finger NOUN NNS Number=Plur 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 39 lest lest SCONJ IN _ 42 mark _ _ 40 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 41 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 42 aux _ _ 42 fall fall VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 parataxis _ _ 43 over over ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 44 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 42 obl _ _ 45 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 46 ruin ruin VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 42 conj _ _ 47 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 obj _ _ 48 all all ADV RB _ 51 advmod _ _ 49 by by ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 noise noise NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Sunlight | | the princess | | then | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent princess=Recipient | | 2 | **is** | past | princess | | | | | do *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **step** | past | the girl | | | | | over the sleeping nun; softly *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over nun=Trajectory | | 4 | **sleep** | gerund | | | | | | | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **creep** | past | Sunlight *not said here* | | | the dark aisle | | like a cat | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme along aisle=Trajectory | | 6 | **feel** | gerund | Sunlight *not said here* | the wall | | | | with princess's fingers | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wall=Theme | | 7 | **fall** | should | princess | | | something | | | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme over something=Location | | 8 | **ruin** | infinitive | princess *not said here* | wall | | | | by a noise | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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 67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/40/67/) - next →: [sentence 69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/40/69/) - ↑ back to [The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/40/)