---
title: The poor woman was as white as marble, for she had been living almos… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The poor woman was as white as marble, for she had been living almost in darkness; but when she saw her husband and children, the colour came back to her face, and she was as beautiful as ever. Who acts: poor woman, darkness, woman, colour. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Openi
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 34, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The poor woman was as white as marble, for she had been living almost in darkness; but when she saw her husband and children, the colour came back to her face, and she was as beautiful as ever.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** poor woman, darkness, woman, colour · **What happens:** be, live, see, come back · **To what, where:** darkness, husband, face

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (poor woman, darkness, woman, colour), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg3027:34:8
# text = The poor woman was as white as marble, for she had been living almost in darkness; but when she saw her husband and children, the colour came back to her face, and she was as beautiful as ever.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	as	as	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	as	as	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	marble	marble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
10	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
13	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	cop	_	_
14	living	live	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	acl	_	_
15	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
23	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
30	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	parataxis	_	_
31	back	back	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
37	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	cop	_	_
39	as	as	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	conj	_	_
41	as	as	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the poor woman |  |  |  |  | as marble and darkness; white *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **live** | gerund | darkness *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past · perfect | woman |  |  | darkness |  | almost *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **see** | past | woman | woman's husband and children |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer husband=Stimulus |
| 5 | **come back** | past | the colour |  |  | woman's face |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to face=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **is** | past | colour |  |  |  |  | beautiful *property* | 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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