---
title: As might be expected, in a very little while the poor girl's thread… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: As might be expected, in a very little while the poor girl's thread snapped, and the old woman, who had been watching from behind a door, seized her stepdaughter by her shoulders, and threw her into the well. Who acts: old woman, thread. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening,
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 10, sentence 19

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As might be expected, in a very little while the poor girl's thread snapped, and the old woman, who had been watching from behind a door, seized her stepdaughter by her shoulders, and threw her into the well.

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**Who acts:** old woman, thread · **What happens:** expect, snap, watch, seize, throw · **To what, where:** door, stepdaughter, woman, well

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 10. 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, thread), 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:pg3027:10:19
# text = As might be expected, in a very little while the poor girl's thread snapped, and the old woman, who had been watching from behind a door, seized her stepdaughter by her shoulders, and threw her into the well.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	expected	expect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	very	very	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
10	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	's	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	thread	thread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	snapped	snap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	aux	_	_
26	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	acl	_	_
27	from	from	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
32	seized	seize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
33	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	stepdaughter	stepdaughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	by	by	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
41	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	_
42	into	into	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	well	well	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	32	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **expect** | might · passive | the old woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S» |
| 2 | **snap** | past | the poor girl's thread |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **watch** | past · perfect · progressive | the old woman |  |  | a door |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **seize** | past | the old woman | woman's stepdaughter |  |  |  | by woman's shoulders | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stepdaughter=Theme |
| 5 | **throw** | past | the old woman *not said here* | woman |  |  |  | into the well *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer she=Theme into well=Result |

<!-- .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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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