---
title: The old witch was standing in the window and pretended not to see th… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The old witch was standing in the window and pretended not to see them; but all witches have eyes in the backs of their heads, and she knew at once that not one sleeve but three were cut, and they were all as alike as before. Who acts: old witch, witches, witch, three. A sentence of «The Crimson Fai
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 6

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The old witch was standing in the window and pretended not to see them; but all witches have eyes in the backs of their heads, and she knew at once that not one sleeve but three were cut, and they were all as alike as before.

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**Who acts:** old witch, witches, witch, three · **What happens:** stand, pretend, not see, have, know, cut · **To what, where:** window, three, eyes, backs

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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, witches, witch, three), 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:pg2435:8:6
# text = The old witch was standing in the window and pretended not to see them; but all witches have eyes in the backs of their heads, and she knew at once that not one sleeve but three were cut, and they were all as alike as before.
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	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	pretended	pretend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	det	_	_
18	witches	witch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj	_	_
19	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
20	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	backs	back	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	_
31	at	at	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	30	obl	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
34	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
35	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	36	nummod	_	_
36	sleeve	sleeve	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	ccomp	_	_
37	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
39	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
43	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
44	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
45	all	all	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
46	as	as	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	alike	alike	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	conj	_	_
48	as	as	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	before	before	ADV	RB	_	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past · progressive | the old witch |  |  | the window |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in window=Location |
| 2 | **pretend** | past | the old witch *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **see** | to-infinitive | the old witch *not said here* | three |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 4 | **have** | present | all witches | eyes |  | the backs of three's heads |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=Patient |
| 5 | **know** | past | witch |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **cut** | past · passive |  | three |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 7 | **is** | past | three |  |  |  |  | alike, all *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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