---
title: The door opened slowly, and there appeared on the threshold an old w… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The door opened slowly, and there appeared on the threshold an old woman holding up a candle to her face, which was so hideous that the boy involuntarily stepped backwards, almost as frightened by the troop of lizards, beetles and such creatures that surrounded her, as by the woman herself. Who acts
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 33, sentence 62

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The door opened slowly, and there appeared on the threshold an old woman holding up a candle to her face, which was so hideous that the boy involuntarily stepped backwards, almost as frightened by the troop of lizards, beetles and such creatures that surrounded her, as by the woman herself.

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**Who acts:** door, old woman, boy · **What happens:** open, appear, hold up, be, step, frighten · **To what, where:** threshold, candle, such creatures

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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 (door, old woman, boy), 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:pg3027:33:62
# text = The door opened slowly, and there appeared on the threshold an old woman holding up a candle to her face, which was so hideous that the boy involuntarily stepped backwards, almost as frightened by the troop of lizards, beetles and such creatures that surrounded her, as by the woman herself.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
8	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	threshold	threshold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	_
15	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	acl	_	_
16	up	up	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	candle	candle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
25	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	hideous	hideous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	conj	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	involuntarily	involuntarily	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	stepped	step	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
32	backwards	backwards	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
34	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
35	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
36	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	54	advcl	_	_
37	by	by	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	troop	troop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	lizards	lizard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
43	beetles	beetle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	conj	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
45	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	creatures	creature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	conj	_	_
47	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	48	nsubj:pass	_	_
48	surrounded	surround	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	46	acl	_	_
49	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
51	as	as	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
52	by	by	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
55	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	54	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **open** | past | the door |  |  |  |  | slowly *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **appear** | past | the door *not said here* |  |  | the threshold; there |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on threshold=Location |
| 3 | **hold up** | gerund | a old woman *not said here* | a candle |  |  |  | to door's face | vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot candle=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | a old woman |  |  |  |  | hideous *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **step** | past | the boy |  |  |  |  | as the woman  door; backwards, involuntarily *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **frighten** | participle | the boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by the troop of lizards and beetles and such creatures | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **surround** | participle · passive |  | such creatures |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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