---
title: Before beginning her work she washed herself carefully, and even put… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Before beginning her work she washed herself carefully, and even put on her rings; but, while she was baking, one of her rings slid into the dough. Who acts: maiden. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dirty Shepherdess, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Dirty Shepherdess, sentence 31

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Before beginning her work she washed herself carefully, and even put on her rings; but, while she was baking, one of her rings slid into the dough.

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**Who acts:** maiden · **What happens:** begin, wash, put, bake, slide, work · **To what, where:** work, maiden, rings, one, dough

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dirty Shepherdess. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (maiden), 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:pg7277:24:31
# text = Before beginning her work she washed herself carefully, and even put on her rings; but, while she was baking, one of her rings slid into the dough.
1	Before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	beginning	begin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
3	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	washed	wash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obj	_	_
8	carefully	carefully	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	even	even	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	rings	ring	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
19	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	baking	bake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	22	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	rings	ring	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	_
28	slid	slide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
29	into	into	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	dough	dough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | gerund | maiden *not said here* | maiden's work |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality |
| 2 | **wash** | past | maiden | maiden |  |  |  | carefully *property* | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent herself=Patient |
| 3 | **put** | infinitive | maiden *not said here* |  |  | maiden's rings |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on ring=Destination |
| 4 | **bake** | past · progressive | maiden | one of maiden's rings |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **slide** | past | maiden *not said here* |  |  | the dough |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into dough=Destination |
| 6 | **work** |  | maiden |  |  |  |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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