---
title: Picking up the black yarn, she stood facing the east and dipped it i… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Picking up the black yarn, she stood facing the east and dipped it in the river, and in an instant it grew white as snow, then turning to the west, she held the white yarn in the water, and it became as black as a crow's wing. Who acts: woman, east. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew La
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 10, sentence 97

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Picking up the black yarn, she stood facing the east and dipped it in the river, and in an instant it grew white as snow, then turning to the west, she held the white yarn in the water, and it became as black as a crow's wing.

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**Who acts:** woman, east · **What happens:** pick up, stand, face, dip, grow, turn · **To what, where:** black yarn, east, river, instant, west, white yarn

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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 (woman, east), 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:pg3027:10:97
# text = Picking up the black yarn, she stood facing the east and dipped it in the river, and in an instant it grew white as snow, then turning to the west, she held the white yarn in the water, and it became as black as a crow's wing.
1	Picking	pick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
2	up	up	ADP	RP	_	1	compound:prt	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	yarn	yarn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
7	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	facing	face	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	xcomp	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	east	east	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	dipped	dip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
25	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	xcomp	_	_
26	as	as	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	advmod	_	_
30	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	west	west	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	yarn	yarn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
47	as	as	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	xcomp	_	_
49	as	as	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
50	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	crow	crow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	's	's	PART	POS	_	51	case	_	_
53	wing	wing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pick up** | gerund | woman *not said here* | the black yarn |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yarn=Topic |
| 2 | **stand** | past | woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **face** | gerund | woman *not said here* | the east |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme east=Destination |
| 4 | **dip** | past | woman *not said here* | east |  | the river |  |  | vn funnel-9.3 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent it=Theme in river=Trajectory |
| 5 | **grow** | past | east |  |  | a instant |  | as snow; white *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in instant=Location |
| 6 | **turn** | gerund | east *not said here* |  |  | the west | then |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to west=Trajectory |
| 7 | **hold** | past | woman | the white yarn |  | the water |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent yarn=Theme in water=Location |
| 8 | **become** | past | east |  |  |  |  | black *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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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