--- title: He stopped and asked her what was the matter, and she answered betwe… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: He stopped and asked her what was the matter, and she answered between her sobs that her husband was dying, and, to make matters worse, a creditor whom he could not pay was anxious to have him taken to prison. Who acts: stranger, woman, husband, creditor. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by And --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/31/87/) [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 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/31/) / 87 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 31, sentence 87 He stopped and asked her what was the matter, and she answered between her sobs that her husband was dying, and, to make matters worse, a creditor whom he could not pay was anxious to have him taken to prison. **Who acts:** stranger, woman, husband, creditor · **What happens:** stop, ask, be, answer, die, make · **To what, where:** woman, matter, matters, creditor, stranger · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 31. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stranger, woman, husband, creditor), 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:pg3027:31:87 # text = He stopped and asked her what was the matter, and she answered between her sobs that her husband was dying, and, to make matters worse, a creditor whom he could not pay was anxious to have him taken to prison. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 stopped stop VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 and and CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 4 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 5 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 iobj _ _ 6 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 9 nsubj _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 cop _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 matter matter NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 12 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 13 answered answer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 14 between between ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 16 nmod:poss _ _ 16 sobs sob NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obl _ _ 17 that that SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 18 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 19 nmod:poss _ _ 19 husband husband NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nsubj _ _ 20 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 21 dying die VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 13 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 make make VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 conj _ _ 27 matters matter NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 obj _ _ 28 worse bad ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 26 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 30 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 creditor creditor NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nsubj _ _ 32 whom whom PRON WP PronType=Rel 36 obj _ _ 33 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 34 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 35 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 36 advmod _ _ 36 pay pay VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 acl:relcl _ _ 37 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 cop _ _ 38 anxious anxious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 parataxis _ _ 39 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 40 have have VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 xcomp _ _ 41 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obj _ _ 42 taken take VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 40 xcomp _ _ 43 to to ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 44 prison prison NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **stop** | past | stranger | | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | stranger *not said here* | | woman | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient | | 3 | **is a** | past | | the matter | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | woman | | | | | between woman's sobs | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **die** | past · progressive | woman's husband | | | | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 6 | **make** | to-infinitive | stranger *not said here* | matters | | | | bad *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset matter=Product | | 7 | **not** **pay** | could | stranger | a creditor | | | | | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whom=Asset | | 8 | **is** | past | a creditor | | | | | anxious *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **have** | to-infinitive | a creditor *not said here* | stranger | | | | | tree rules | | 10 | **take** | participle | stranger *not said here* | | | | | to prison *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to prison=Result | | 11 | **sob** | | woman | | | | | | nom sob «state intransitive»: poss=agent | 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 86](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/31/86/) - next →: [sentence 88](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/31/88/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/31/)