---
title: He walked through the maize without knowing where he was going, when… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He walked through the maize without knowing where he was going, when he heard a sound of knocking, and saw two old blind women crushing their food between two stones. Who acts: bird, two old blind women. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 35, with its dependency tree
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 35, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He walked through the maize without knowing where he was going, when he heard a sound of knocking, and saw two old blind women crushing their food between two stones.

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**Who acts:** bird, two old blind women · **What happens:** walk, know, go, hear, see, crush · **To what, where:** maize, sound, two old blind women, food · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (bird, two old blind women), 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:pg3027:35:19
# text = He walked through the maize without knowing where he was going, when he heard a sound of knocking, and saw two old blind women crushing their food between two stones.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	through	through	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	maize	maize	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
8	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	11	advmod	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	knocking	knocking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
23	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	nummod	_	_
24	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
25	blind	blind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
27	crushing	crush	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	26	acl	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	between	between	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
32	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **walk** | past | bird |  |  | the maize |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through maize=Trajectory |
| 2 | **know** | gerund | bird *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **go** | past · progressive | bird |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **hear** | past | bird | a sound of knocking |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sound=Stimulus |
| 5 | **see** | past | bird *not said here* | two old blind women |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer woman=Stimulus |
| 6 | **crush** | gerund | two old blind women *not said here* | fields's food |  |  |  | between two stones | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient |

<!-- .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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