---
title: At first Sabatella was frightened to death at hearing a snake speak,… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At first Sabatella was frightened to death at hearing a snake speak, but plucking up her courage, she replied, ‘If it weren’t for any other reason than your kindly thought, I would agree to what you say, and I will love you and look after you like a mother.’ Who acts: Sabatella, I, you. A sentence o
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Enchanted Snake, sentence 5

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At first Sabatella was frightened to death at hearing a snake speak, but plucking up her courage, she replied, ‘If it weren’t for any other reason than your kindly thought, I would agree to what you say, and I will love you and look after you like a mother.’

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**Who acts:** Sabatella, I, you · **What happens:** frighten, hear, pluck up, not reply, think, agree · **To what, where:** Sabatella, snake speak, courage, your, you, mother · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Enchanted Snake. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sabatella, I, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg7277:25:5
# text = At first Sabatella was frightened to death at hearing a snake speak, but plucking up her courage, she replied, ‘If it weren’t for any other reason than your kindly thought, I would agree to what you say, and I will love you and look after you like a mother.’
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	obl	_	_
3	Sabatella	Sabatella	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
8	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	hearing	hear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	speak	speak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	plucking	pluck	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	conj	_	_
16	up	up	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	courage	courage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
28	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	31	det	_	_
30	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
32	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
33	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj:pass	_	_
34	kindly	kindly	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
37	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	agree	agree	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	parataxis	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	39	obl	_	_
42	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	41	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
46	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	love	love	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	parataxis	_	_
49	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
51	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	conj	_	_
52	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
53	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
54	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	51	advcl	_	_
55	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **frighten** | past · passive |  | Sabatella |  |  |  | to death | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **hear** | gerund |  | a snake speak |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer speak=Stimulus |
| 3 | **pluck up** | gerund |  | Sabatella's courage |  |  |  |  | vn braid-41.2.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent courage=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Sabatella |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* | participle · passive |  | your |  |  |  | kindly *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 6 | **agree** *speech: agree* | would | I |  |  |  |  | to any other reason | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **love** | future | I | you |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer you=Stimulus |
| 9 | **look** | infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 10 | **like** | present | you | a mother |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot mother=Theme |

<!-- .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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