---
title: While they were caressing Sabella and wringing her hands (which is a… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: While they were caressing Sabella and wringing her hands (which is a favourite form of endearment with foolish people) chariots were seen approaching from all points of the compass, containing numbers of Fairies. Who acts: King, chariots. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Heart of
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Heart of Ice, part 4, sentence 65

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
While they were caressing Sabella and wringing her hands (which is a favourite form of endearment with foolish people) chariots were seen approaching from all points of the compass, containing numbers of Fairies.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** King, chariots · **What happens:** caress, wring, be, see, approach, contain · **To what, where:** Sabella, hands, favourite form, chariots, points, numbers

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Heart of Ice, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, chariots), 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:pg7277:17:65
# text = While they were caressing Sabella and wringing her hands (which is a favourite form of endearment with foolish people) chariots were seen approaching from all points of the compass, containing numbers of Fairies.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	caressing	caress	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
5	Sabella	Sabella	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	wringing	wring	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
8	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	favourite	favourite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	endearment	endearment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	4	punct	_	_
22	chariots	chariot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
25	approaching	approach	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	xcomp	_	_
26	from	from	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	28	det	_	_
28	points	point	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	compass	compass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	containing	contain	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	conj	_	_
34	numbers	number	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	Fairies	fairy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **caress** | past · progressive | King | Sabella |  |  |  |  | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sabella=Experiencer |
| 2 | **wring** | gerund | King *not said here* | Sabella's hands |  |  |  | with foolish people | vn touch-20 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent hand=Experiencer with people=Instrument |
| 3 | **is a** | present |  | a favourite form |  |  |  | of endearment | tree rules |
| 4 | **see** | past · passive |  | chariots |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **approach** | gerund | chariots *not said here* |  |  | all points of the compass |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from point=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **contain** | gerund | chariots *not said here* | numbers of Fairies |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot number=Theme |
| 7 | **point** |  |  | the compass |  |  |  |  | nom point «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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