---
title: The old witch was waiting for him at the gate, and whispered as he p… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The old witch was waiting for him at the gate, and whispered as he passed: “This is the last time you will ever enter it.” Who acts: old witch, youth, This, you. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 14

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The old witch was waiting for him at the gate, and whispered as he passed: “This is the last time you will ever enter it.”

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**Who acts:** old witch, youth, This, you · **What happens:** wait, whisper, pass, be, enter · **To what, where:** gate, last time · **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 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old witch, youth, This, 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:pg2435:8:14
# text = The old witch was waiting for him at the gate, and whispered as he passed: “This is the last time you will ever enter it.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	waiting	wait	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	whispered	whisper	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
18	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	nsubj	_	_
20	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl:unmarked	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	27	advmod	_	_
27	enter	enter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	acl:relcl	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | past · progressive | the old witch |  |  | the gate |  | for youth | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at gate=Location |
| 2 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **pass** | past | youth |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | This | the last time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **enter** *in a quote* | future | you | gate |  |  | ever |  | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Destination |

<!-- .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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