---
title: It was a long journey, even for a witch, but, like other things, it… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was a long journey, even for a witch, but, like other things, it ended at last; and the old woman stood before the platform of stakes, where the body of Ball-Carrier lay. Who acts: ball, old woman, body. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8, with its d
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 43

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was a long journey, even for a witch, but, like other things, it ended at last; and the old woman stood before the platform of stakes, where the body of Ball-Carrier lay.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** ball, old woman, body · **What happens:** be, end, stand, lie · **To what, where:** long journey, last, platform

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, 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 (ball, old woman, body), 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:pg3282:8:43
# text = It was a long journey, even for a witch, but, like other things, it ended at last; and the old woman stood before the platform of stakes, where the body of Ball-Carrier lay.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	journey	journey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	even	even	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
14	like	like	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	ended	end	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
28	before	before	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	platform	platform	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	stakes	stake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
34	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	41	advmod	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	Ball	Ball	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	Carrier	Carrier	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	38	conj	_	_
41	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | ball | a long journey and a witch |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **end** | past | ball |  |  | last |  | like other things | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **stand** | past | the old woman |  |  | the platform of stakes |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before platform=Location |
| 4 | **lie** | past | the body of Ball and Carrier |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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