---
title: The country was very lonely, and perhaps no one would have known in… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The country was very lonely, and perhaps no one would have known in which direction she had gone had not the girl managed to tie a ball of thread to the handle of a door at the back of the cottage and let it trail behind her. Who acts: country, Lyma, girl, ball. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book»
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/35/101/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/35/) / 101

# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 35, sentence 101

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The country was very lonely, and perhaps no one would have known in which direction she had gone had not the girl managed to tie a ball of thread to the handle of a door at the back of the cottage and let it trail behind her.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** country, Lyma, girl, ball · **What happens:** be, know, go, have, not manage, not tie · **To what, where:** one, direction, ball, back

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (country, Lyma, girl, ball), 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:pg3027:35:101
# text = The country was very lonely, and perhaps no one would have known in which direction she had gone had not the girl managed to tie a ball of thread to the handle of a door at the back of the cottage and let it trail behind her.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	lonely	lonely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
8	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
10	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux	_	_
13	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	16	det	_	_
16	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	acl:relcl	_	_
20	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	managed	manage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	tie	tie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	thread	thread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	handle	handle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	_
37	at	at	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	cottage	cottage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	conj	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	_
46	trail	trail	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
47	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the country |  |  |  |  | lonely *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | would · perfect · passive |  | no one |  | which direction |  | perhaps *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **go** | past · perfect | Lyma | which direction *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location direction=Theme |
| 4 | **have** | past | the country *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **manage** | past | the girl |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **not** **tie** | to-infinitive | the girl *not said here* | a ball of thread |  | the back of the cottage |  | to the handle of a door | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent ball=Patient to handle=Co-Patient |
| 7 | **let** | infinitive | the girl *not said here* | ball |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **trail** | infinitive | ball *not said here* |  |  |  |  | behind Lyma | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent behind she=Trajectory |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 100](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/35/100/)
- next →: [sentence 102](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/35/102/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/35/)