---
title: They were very poor, and the girls seldom left the house, as they wo… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They were very poor, and the girls seldom left the house, as they worked all day long making veils for the ladies to wear over their faces, and every morning, when the veils were finished, the other took them over the bridge and sold them in the city. Who acts: daughters, girls, other. A sentence of
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 21, sentence 126

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They were very poor, and the girls seldom left the house, as they worked all day long making veils for the ladies to wear over their faces, and every morning, when the veils were finished, the other took them over the bridge and sold them in the city.

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**Who acts:** daughters, girls, other · **What happens:** be, leave, work, make, wear, finish · **To what, where:** house, veils, faces, morning, daughters, bridge

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (daughters, girls, other), 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:pg3282:21:126
# text = They were very poor, and the girls seldom left the house, as they worked all day long making veils for the ladies to wear over their faces, and every morning, when the veils were finished, the other took them over the bridge and sold them in the city.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	girls	girl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
9	seldom	seldom	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	worked	work	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
17	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	18	det	_	_
18	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl:unmarked	_	_
19	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	16	advmod	_	_
20	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
21	veils	veil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	ladies	lady	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	wear	wear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	advcl	_	_
27	over	over	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	faces	face	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
32	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	33	det	_	_
33	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	39	advmod	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	veils	veil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	nsubj	_	_
43	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
44	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	obj	_	_
45	over	over	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	bridge	bridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
49	sold	sell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	conj	_	_
50	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obj	_	_
51	in	in	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | daughters *= daughter* |  |  |  |  | poor *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **leave** | past | the girls | the house |  |  |  | seldom *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Theme |
| 3 | **work** | past | daughters *= daughter* |  |  |  | day | long *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **make** | gerund | daughters *= daughter* *not said here* | veils |  |  |  | for the ladies | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent veil=Material for lady=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **wear** | to-infinitive | daughters *= daughter* *not said here* |  |  | daughters's faces |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **finish** | past · passive |  | every morning |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |
| 7 | **take** | past | the other | daughters *= daughter* |  | the bridge |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 8 | **sell** | past | the other *not said here* | daughters *= daughter* |  | the city |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

<!-- .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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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