---
title: If she had been a good little old woman she would have waited till t… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If she had been a good little old woman she would have waited till the bears came home, and then, perhaps, they would have asked her to breakfast; for they were good bears--a little rough or so, as the manner of bears is, but for all that very good-natured and hospitable. Who acts: woman, good littl
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Story of the Three Bears, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If she had been a good little old woman she would have waited till the bears came home, and then, perhaps, they would have asked her to breakfast; for they were good bears--a little rough or so, as the manner of bears is, but for all that very good-natured and hospitable.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** woman, good little old woman, Bears, manner · **What happens:** be, wait, come, ask · **To what, where:** good little old woman, woman

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of the Three Bears. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman, good little old woman, Bears, manner), 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:pg7277:32:11
# text = If she had been a good little old woman she would have waited till the bears came home, and then, perhaps, they would have asked her to breakfast; for they were good bears--a little rough or so, as the manner of bears is, but for all that very good-natured and hospitable.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
6	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
10	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux	_	_
13	waited	wait	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	acl:relcl	_	_
14	till	till	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	bears	bear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
17	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	home	home	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
21	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	aux	_	_
28	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	parataxis	_	_
29	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	breakfast	breakfast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
34	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
35	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
36	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	bears	bear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	obl:unmarked	_	_
41	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	parataxis	_	_
42	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	so	so	ADV	RB	_	41	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
45	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nsubj	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	bears	bear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nmod	_	_
50	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
52	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
53	for	for	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	59	nsubj	_	_
55	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	54	obj	_	_
56	very	very	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
57	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	57	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	natured	natured	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	parataxis	_	_
60	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
61	hospitable	hospitable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | woman | a good little old woman |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **wait** | would · perfect | woman | a good little old woman *not said here* |  |  | till the bears |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **come** | past | a good little old woman |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | would · perfect | Bears *= bear* |  | woman |  | then | to breakfast; perhaps *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient |
| 5 | **is** | past | Bears *= bear* |  |  |  |  | for good bears | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** | present | the manner of bears |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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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