---
title: Then the second sister sat on the back of the first, and the third o… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the second sister sat on the back of the first, and the third on the back of the second, and so on for the whole seven. Who acts: second sister. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 8, sentence 34

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Then the second sister sat on the back of the first, and the third on the back of the second, and so on for the whole seven.

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**Who acts:** second sister · **What happens:** sit · **To what, where:** third, back

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (second sister), 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:pg3027:8:34
# text = Then the second sister sat on the back of the first, and the third on the back of the second, and so on for the whole seven.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	amod	_	_
4	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	third	third	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	on	on	ADV	RB	_	5	conj	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past | the second sister | the third on the back of the second |  | the back of the first | then |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on back=Location |

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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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