---
title: Now the children were forbidden to play more than a short distance f… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now the children were forbidden to play more than a short distance from the door, as it was known that, away on the other side of the wood near the great river, there dwelt a witch who had a magic ball that she used as a means of stealing children. Who acts: witch, wife, a. A sentence of «The Brown 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 81

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now the children were forbidden to play more than a short distance from the door, as it was known that, away on the other side of the wood near the great river, there dwelt a witch who had a magic ball that she used as a means of stealing children.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** witch, wife, a · **What happens:** forbid, play, know, dwell, have, use · **To what, where:** children, more, door, witch, magic ball · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, 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 (witch, wife, a), 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:pg3282:6:81
# text = Now the children were forbidden to play more than a short distance from the door, as it was known that, away on the other side of the wood near the great river, there dwelt a witch who had a magic ball that she used as a means of stealing children.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	forbidden	forbid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	obj	_	_
9	than	than	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	away	away	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	near	near	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	37	expl	_	_
37	dwelt	dwell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	41	nsubj	_	_
41	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	acl:relcl	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	compound	_	_
44	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
45	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	47	obj	_	_
46	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	acl:relcl	_	_
48	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	nsubj	_	_
50	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	47	ccomp	_	_
51	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
52	stealing	steal	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	50	ccomp	_	_
53	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **forbid** | past · passive |  | the children |  |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **play** | to-infinitive |  | more |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent more=Theme |
| 3 | **know** | past · passive |  | door |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 4 | **dwell** | past |  | a witch |  | there |  | away *property* | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme witch=Location |
| 5 | **have** | past | a witch | a magic ball |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ball=Patient |
| 6 | **use** | past | wife | a magic ball |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent that=Theme clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **mean** | present | a |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **steal** | gerund |  | children |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location child=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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