--- title: By the time she reached the spot where her stepfather had been cutti… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: By the time she reached the spot where her stepfather had been cutting the wood the girl was in a very bad temper indeed, and when she caught sight of the axe, there were the three little doves, with drooping heads and soiled, bedraggled feathers, sitting on the handle. Who acts: stepmother, stepfat --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/12/54/) [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 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/12/) / 54 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 12, sentence 54 By the time she reached the spot where her stepfather had been cutting the wood the girl was in a very bad temper indeed, and when she caught sight of the axe, there were the three little doves, with drooping heads and soiled, bedraggled feathers, sitting on the handle. **Who acts:** stepmother, stepfather, girl · **What happens:** reach, cut, be, catch, droop, soil · **To what, where:** spot, wood, bad temper, sight, three little doves, handle This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stepmother, stepfather, girl), 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:pg3027:12:54 # text = By the time she reached the spot where her stepfather had been cutting the wood the girl was in a very bad temper indeed, and when she caught sight of the axe, there were the three little doves, with drooping heads and soiled, bedraggled feathers, sitting on the handle. 1 By by ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 4 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 5 reached reach VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 spot spot NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 8 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 13 advmod _ _ 9 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 10 nmod:poss _ _ 10 stepfather stepfather NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ _ 11 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 12 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 13 aux _ _ 13 cutting cut VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 7 acl:relcl _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 wood wood NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 girl girl NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nsubj _ _ 18 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 cop _ _ 19 in in ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 20 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 21 very very ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 22 bad bad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 temper temper NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 parataxis _ _ 24 indeed indeed ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 27 when when SCONJ WRB _ 29 mark _ _ 28 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 caught catch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 advcl _ _ 30 sight sight NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obj _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 axe axe NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 35 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 36 expl _ _ 36 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 cop _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 38 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 40 nummod _ _ 39 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 doves dove NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 42 with with ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 43 drooping droop VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 44 amod _ _ 44 heads head NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 conj _ _ 45 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 46 soiled soil VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 40 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 48 bedraggled bedraggle VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 49 amod _ _ 49 feathers feather NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 51 punct _ _ 51 sitting sit VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 5 advcl _ _ 52 on on ADP IN _ 54 case _ _ 53 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 54 det _ _ 54 handle handle NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 55 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **reach** | past | stepmother | the spot | | | time | | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent spot=Theme | | 2 | **cut** | past · perfect · progressive | stepmother's stepfather | the wood | | | | indeed *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wood=Product | | 3 | **is** | past | the girl | | | a bad temper | | | tree rules | | 4 | **catch** | past | stepmother | sight of the axe | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sight=Theme | | 5 | **is a** | past | | the three little doves and drooping heads and bedraggled feathers | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **droop** | gerund | | | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **soil** | participle | | | | | | | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **bedraggle** | participle | | | | | | | tree rules | | 9 | **sit** | gerund | stepmother *not said here* | | | the handle | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on handle=Location | | 10 | **sight** | | | the axe | | | | | nom sight «cognition 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 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/12/53/) - next →: [sentence 55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/12/55/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/12/)