--- title: They lost no time in questioning the old woman, who replied that she… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: They lost no time in questioning the old woman, who replied that she knew nothing about the lady and her white doe, who slept next the chamber occupied by the prince and his friend, but that they were very quiet, and paid her well. Who acts: prince, old woman, woman, white doe. A sentence of «The Or --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/24/84/) [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 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/24/) / 84 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 24, sentence 84 They lost no time in questioning the old woman, who replied that she knew nothing about the lady and her white doe, who slept next the chamber occupied by the prince and his friend, but that they were very quiet, and paid her well. **Who acts:** prince, old woman, woman, white doe · **What happens:** lose, question, reply, know, sleep, occupy · **To what, where:** old woman, nothing, chamber, woman This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prince, old woman, woman, white doe), 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:pg3027:24:84 # text = They lost no time in questioning the old woman, who replied that she knew nothing about the lady and her white doe, who slept next the chamber occupied by the prince and his friend, but that they were very quiet, and paid her well. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 lost lose VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 4 det _ _ 4 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 5 in in SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 6 questioning question VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 2 advcl _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 8 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 11 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 12 nsubj _ _ 12 replied reply VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 acl:relcl _ _ 13 that that SCONJ IN _ 15 mark _ _ 14 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 15 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 advcl _ _ 16 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 15 obj _ _ 17 about about ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 lady lady NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ _ 20 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 21 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 22 white white ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 doe doe NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 26 nsubj _ _ 26 slept sleep VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 conj _ _ 27 next next ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 chamber chamber NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obj _ _ 30 occupied occupy VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 29 acl _ _ 31 by by ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 prince prince NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 35 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 friend friend NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 38 but but CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 39 that that SCONJ IN _ 43 mark _ _ 40 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 41 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 cop _ _ 42 very very ADV RB _ 43 advmod _ _ 43 quiet quiet ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 45 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 46 paid pay VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 47 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 obj _ _ 48 well well ADV RB Degree=Pos 46 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **lose** | past | prince | | | | time | | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **question** *speech: other* | gerund | prince *not said here* | | the old woman | | | | vn interrogate-37.1.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent woman=Recipient | | 3 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the old woman | | | | | | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **know** | past | woman | nothing | | | | about the lady | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus | | 5 | **sleep** | past | woman's white doe | the chamber | | | | next *property* | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chamber=Theme | | 6 | **occupy** | participle | | the chamber *not said here* | | | | by the prince and doe's friend | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 7 | **is** | past | prince | | | | | quiet *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **pay** | past | prince *not said here* | woman | | | | well *property* | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Asset | 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 83](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/24/83/) - next →: [sentence 85](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/24/85/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/24/)