---
title: The old woman sprang forwards and seized it, but her clothes caught… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The old woman sprang forwards and seized it, but her clothes caught fire, and in a few minutes she was burned to ashes. Who acts: old woman, clothes. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 36, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 36, sentence 59

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The old woman sprang forwards and seized it, but her clothes caught fire, and in a few minutes she was burned to ashes.

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**Who acts:** old woman, clothes · **What happens:** spring, seize, catch, burn · **To what, where:** cane, fire, woman

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old woman, clothes), 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:pg3027:36:59
# text = The old woman sprang forwards and seized it, but her clothes caught fire, and in a few minutes she was burned to ashes.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	forwards	forwards	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	seized	seize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	13	nsubj	_	_
13	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
14	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	burned	burn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	parataxis	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	ashes	ash	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spring** | past | the old woman |  |  |  |  | forwards *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **seize** | past | the old woman *not said here* | cane |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **catch** | past | woman's clothes | fire |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Theme |
| 4 | **burn** | past · passive |  | woman |  |  | minute | to ashes | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |

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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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