---
title: The old woman sent after it at once, and when she questioned the mag… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The old woman sent after it at once, and when she questioned the magpies the crippled one was the only one who knew where the three bulrushes were. Who acts: old woman, crippled one, only one, three bulrushes. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 1, wit
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 1, sentence 51

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old woman sent after it at once, and when she questioned the magpies the crippled one was the only one who knew where the three bulrushes were.

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**Who acts:** old woman, crippled one, only one, three bulrushes · **What happens:** send, question, be, know · **To what, where:** old woman, magpies, only one · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old woman, crippled one, only one, three bulrushes), 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:pg2435:1:51
# text = The old woman sent after it at once, and when she questioned the magpies the crippled one was the only one who knew where the three bulrushes were.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
4	sent	send	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	after	after	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	questioned	question	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	magpies	magpie	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	crippled	crippled	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	parataxis	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
24	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
25	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	29	advmod	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nummod	_	_
28	bulrushes	bulrush	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nsubj	_	_
29	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **send** | participle |  | the old woman *not said here* |  |  | after magpie |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **question** *speech: other* | past | the old woman |  | the magpies |  |  |  | vn interrogate-37.1.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent magpie=Recipient |
| 3 | **is a** | past | the crippled one | the only one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **know** | past | the only one |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **be** | past | the three bulrushes |  |  |  |  |  | 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 Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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