---
title: Most of them, he knew, were merely invented by old women, who sought… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Most of them, he knew, were merely invented by old women, who sought to prove themselves wiser than other people; but at length he came to something which caused him to sit up straight in his chair, and made his eyes brighten. Who acts: Most, old women, Gilguerillo, eyes. A sentence of «The Orange F
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/38/44/)

<!-- 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 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/38/) / 44

# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 38, sentence 44

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Most of them, he knew, were merely invented by old women, who sought to prove themselves wiser than other people; but at length he came to something which caused him to sit up straight in his chair, and made his eyes brighten.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Most, old women, Gilguerillo, eyes · **What happens:** know, invent, seek, prove, come, cause · **To what, where:** diseases, length, Gilguerillo, chair · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Most, old women, Gilguerillo, eyes), 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:pg3027:38:44
# text = Most of them, he knew, were merely invented by old women, who sought to prove themselves wiser than other people; but at length he came to something which caused him to sit up straight in his chair, and made his eyes brighten.
1	Most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	nsubj	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	1	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
9	merely	merely	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	invented	invent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	ccomp	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
16	sought	seek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	prove	prove	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	18	obj	_	_
20	wiser	wise	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	18	xcomp	_	_
21	than	than	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	29	obl	_	_
32	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	33	nsubj	_	_
33	caused	cause	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	acl:relcl	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	iobj	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
37	up	up	ADP	RP	_	36	compound:prt	_	_
38	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	chair	chair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
45	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nsubj	_	_
47	brighten	brighten	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | Most of diseases |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **invent** | past · passive | old women |  |  |  |  | merely *property* | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **seek** | past | old women |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **prove** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | old women *not said here* | diseases *= disease* |  |  |  | wise *property* | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme |
| 5 | **come** | past | Gilguerillo |  |  | length |  | to something | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to something=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **cause** | past |  |  | Gilguerillo |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **sit up** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | Gilguerillo's chair |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in chair=Location |
| 8 | **make** | past | Gilguerillo *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **brighten** | present | Gilguerillo's eyes |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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.

<!-- 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 43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/38/43/)
- next →: [sentence 45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/38/45/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/38/)