---
title: The two thieves dragged themselves noiselessly along the wall till t… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The two thieves dragged themselves noiselessly along the wall till they were opposite the well, and by stretching out her neck as far as it would go the fox was able to make out that there was only very little water in the bottom, but just enough to reflect the moon, big, and round and yellow. Who a
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 6, sentence 120

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The two thieves dragged themselves noiselessly along the wall till they were opposite the well, and by stretching out her neck as far as it would go the fox was able to make out that there was only very little water in the bottom, but just enough to reflect the moon, big, and round and yellow.

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**Who acts:** two thieves, Fox, well · **What happens:** drag, be, stretch out, go, make out, reflect · **To what, where:** thieves, neck, fox, able little water, moon

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two thieves, Fox, well), 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:pg3027:6:120
# text = The two thieves dragged themselves noiselessly along the wall till they were opposite the well, and by stretching out her neck as far as it would go the fox was able to make out that there was only very little water in the bottom, but just enough to reflect the moon, big, and round and yellow.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	thieves	thief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	dragged	drag	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obj	_	_
6	noiselessly	noiselessly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
7	along	along	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
13	opposite	opposite	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	well	well	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
19	stretching	stretch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
20	out	out	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
23	as	as	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	32	advmod	_	_
25	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
32	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	out	out	ADP	RP	_	34	compound:prt	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
37	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	38	expl	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
39	only	only	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
40	very	very	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
47	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
48	just	just	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
49	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
51	reflect	reflect	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	moon	moon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
55	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
58	round	round	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
60	yellow	yellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drag** | past | the two thieves | thieves *= thief* |  |  |  | along the wall; noiselessly *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | Fox |  |  |  |  | opposite the well | tree rules |
| 3 | **stretch out** | gerund | the two thieves *not said here* | pole's neck |  |  |  | in the bottom | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent neck=Patient in bottom=Topic |
| 4 | **go** | would | well | the fox |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location fox=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | able, far *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **make out** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **is a** | past |  | able little water |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **reflect** | to-infinitive |  | the moon |  |  |  | enough *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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