---
title: This was the tower in which dwelt the witch; and seizing the knocker… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: This was the tower in which dwelt the witch; and seizing the knocker he gave three loud knocks, which were echoed in the hollows of the rocks around. Who acts: This, tower, knocker. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 33, sentence 61

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This was the tower in which dwelt the witch; and seizing the knocker he gave three loud knocks, which were echoed in the hollows of the rocks around.

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**Who acts:** This, tower, knocker · **What happens:** be, dwell, seize, give, echo · **To what, where:** tower, witch, knocker, three loud knocks, hollows

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, tower, knocker), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3027:33:61
# text = This was the tower in which dwelt the witch; and seizing the knocker he gave three loud knocks, which were echoed in the hollows of the rocks around.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	dwelt	dwell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	seizing	seize	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	appos	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	knocker	knocker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nummod	_	_
18	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	knocks	knock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	echoed	echo	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	acl:relcl	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	hollows	hollow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nmod	_	_
30	around	around	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | This | the tower |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **dwell** | past | the tower | the witch |  |  |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme witch=Location |
| 3 | **seize** | gerund |  | the knocker |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knocker=Theme |
| 4 | **give** | past | knocker | three loud knocks |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knock=Theme |
| 5 | **echo** | past · passive |  | three loud knocks |  | the hollows of the rocks |  |  | vn sound\_existence-47.4 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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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