---
title: The old woman, who passed all her days in spinning yarn, which she s… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The old woman, who passed all her days in spinning yarn, which she sold at the nearest town, loved both the cat and the hen as her own children, and never contradicted them in any way; so it was their grace, and not hers, that the duckling would have to gain. Who acts: old woman, woman, cat, ducklin
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 9, sentence 50

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The old woman, who passed all her days in spinning yarn, which she sold at the nearest town, loved both the cat and the hen as her own children, and never contradicted them in any way; so it was their grace, and not hers, that the duckling would have to gain.

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**Who acts:** old woman, woman, cat, duckling · **What happens:** pass, spin, sell, love, not contradict, be · **To what, where:** spinning yarn, nearest town, cat, hens, way, grace

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 9. 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, woman, cat, duckling), 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:pg3027:9:50
# text = The old woman, who passed all her days in spinning yarn, which she sold at the nearest town, loved both the cat and the hen as her own children, and never contradicted them in any way; so it was their grace, and not hers, that the duckling would have to gain.
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	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	9	det:predet	_	_
8	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	amod	_	_
12	yarn	yarn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	16	obj	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	sold	sell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	nearest	near	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	20	amod	_	_
20	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	loved	love	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
23	both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc:preconj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	hen	hen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	_
29	as	as	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
31	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	36	advmod	_	_
36	contradicted	contradict	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
37	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	_
38	in	in	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	40	det	_	_
40	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
42	so	so	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
43	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
44	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	cop	_	_
45	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	grace	grace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
49	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	50	advmod	_	_
50	hers	her	PRON	PRP	Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
52	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	duckling	duckling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	nsubj	_	_
55	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
56	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
57	to	to	PART	TO	_	58	mark	_	_
58	gain	gain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past | the old woman |  |  | spinning yarn | day |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in yarn=Location |
| 2 | **spin** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **sell** | past | woman | spinning yarn |  | the nearest town |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent which=Theme at town=Asset |
| 4 | **love** | past | woman *not said here* | the cat and the hen |  |  |  | as woman's own children | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer cat=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **contradict** | past | the old woman *not said here* | hens *= hen* |  | any way |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **is a** | past | cat | hens's grace |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **have** | would | the duckling |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **gain** | to-infinitive | the duckling *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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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