--- title: 'This is worse than the sieve,' thought she, and was about to give u… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: 'This is worse than the sieve,' thought she, and was about to give up in despair when there came a rush of wings through the air, and on every twig of the birch trees which grew by the bank was perched a sparrow. Who acts: This, worse, rush, birch trees. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andr --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/10/95/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Orange Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/) / [Opening, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/10/) / 95 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 10, sentence 95 'This is worse than the sieve,' thought she, and was about to give up in despair when there came a rush of wings through the air, and on every twig of the birch trees which grew by the bank was perched a sparrow. **Who acts:** This, worse, rush, birch trees · **What happens:** be, think, give up, come, grow, perch · **To what, where:** woman, despair, air, sparrow, twig, wings 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 (This, worse, rush, birch trees), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3027:10:95 # text = 'This is worse than the sieve,' thought she, and was about to give up in despair when there came a rush of wings through the air, and on every twig of the birch trees which grew by the bank was perched a sparrow. 1 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 This this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 4 nsubj _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 4 worse bad ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 10 nsubj _ _ 5 than than ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 sieve sieve NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 9 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ 10 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 11 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 14 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 cop _ _ 15 about about ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 conj _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 17 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 xcomp _ _ 18 up up ADP RP _ 17 compound:prt _ _ 19 in in ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 despair despair NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ _ 21 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 23 advmod _ _ 22 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 23 expl _ _ 23 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 advcl _ _ 24 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 rush rush NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nsubj _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 wings wing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 nmod _ _ 28 through through ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 air air NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 33 on on ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 35 det _ _ 35 twig twig NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obl _ _ 36 of of ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 38 birch birch NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 compound _ _ 39 trees tree NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 nmod _ _ 40 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 41 nsubj _ _ 41 grew grow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 acl:relcl _ _ 42 by by ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 bank bank NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ _ 45 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 aux:pass _ _ 46 perched perch VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 10 conj _ _ 47 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 sparrow sparrow NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | present | This | | | | | than the sieve; bad *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | worse | woman | | | | | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot she=Theme | | 3 | **is** | past | worse *not said here* | | | | | about *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **give up** | to-infinitive | worse *not said here* | | | despair | | | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **come** | past | a rush of wings | | | the air; there | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through air=Initial\_Location | | 6 | **grow** | past | the birch trees | | | | | by the bank | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by bank=Location | | 7 | **perch** | past · passive | worse *not said here* | a sparrow | | every twig of the birch trees | | | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: sparrow=Theme on twig=Destination | | 8 | **rush** | | | wings | | | | | nom rush «act transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 94](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/10/94/) - next →: [sentence 96](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/10/96/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/10/)