---
title: Sometimes he would stitch away as fast as if he had a red-hot needle… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Sometimes he would stitch away as fast as if he had a red-hot needle and a burning thread, and at other times he would sit lost in thought, and with such a queer look about him that his fellow-workmen used to say, “Labakan has got on his aristocratic face today.” Who acts: Labakan, fellow workmen. A
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 34, sentence 26

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Sometimes he would stitch away as fast as if he had a red-hot needle and a burning thread, and at other times he would sit lost in thought, and with such a queer look about him that his fellow-workmen used to say, “Labakan has got on his aristocratic face today.”

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**Who acts:** Labakan, fellow workmen · **What happens:** stitch away, have, burn, sit, lose, look · **To what, where:** red hot needle, thought, aristocratic face · **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 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Labakan, fellow workmen), 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:pg2435:34:26
# text = Sometimes he would stitch away as fast as if he had a red-hot needle and a burning thread, and at other times he would sit lost in thought, and with such a queer look about him that his fellow-workmen used to say, “Labakan has got on his aristocratic face today.”
1	Sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	4	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	stitch	stitch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	as	as	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
13	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	hot	hot	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	needle	needle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	amod	_	_
20	thread	thread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
29	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	advcl	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
34	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	37	det:predet	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	queer	queer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
38	look	look	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
39	about	about	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obl	_	_
41	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
43	fellow	fellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	43	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	workmen	workman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	nsubj	_	_
46	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	advcl	_	_
47	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
48	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
50	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	53	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	Labakan	Labakan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	53	nsubj	_	_
52	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
53	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	48	ccomp	_	_
54	on	on	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
55	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	57	nmod:poss	_	_
56	aristocratic	aristocratic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
57	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	_
58	today	today	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stitch away** | would | Labakan |  |  |  |  | away, fast, sometimes *property* | vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **have** | past | Labakan | a red hot needle and a burning thread |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent needle=Patient |
| 3 | **burn** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **sit** | would | Labakan |  |  |  | time |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **lose** | participle | Labakan *not said here* |  |  | thought |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V PP.eventuality S\_ING»: agent=Agent in thought=Eventuality |
| 6 | **look** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | with such queer; about Labakan | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent about he=Theme |
| 7 | **use** | past | Labakan's fellow workmen |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 8 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | Labakan's fellow workmen *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **get** *in a quote* | present · perfect | Labakan |  |  | Labakan's aristocratic face | today |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent on face=Source |

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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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