---
title: His mother it was who saw it plainly through the big tears that were… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: His mother it was who saw it plainly through the big tears that were rolling down her cheeks; and though she saw it, and her heart was aching as much as ever mother’s heart ached for a son, she kept dancing, dancing all the time for the bare life of her. Who acts: mother, big tears, heart. A sentenc
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18, sentence 67

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His mother it was who saw it plainly through the big tears that were rolling down her cheeks; and though she saw it, and her heart was aching as much as ever mother’s heart ached for a son, she kept dancing, dancing all the time for the bare life of her.

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**Who acts:** mother, big tears, heart · **What happens:** be, roll down, see, ache, keep, dance · **To what, where:** big tears, cheeks, matter, much

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, big tears, heart), 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:pg3454:18:67
# text = His mother it was who saw it plainly through the big tears that were rolling down her cheeks; and though she saw it, and her heart was aching as much as ever mother’s heart ached for a son, she kept dancing, dancing all the time for the bare life of her.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	plainly	plainly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
9	through	through	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	rolling	roll	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	acl:relcl	_	_
16	down	down	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	cheeks	cheek	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	aching	ache	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
31	as	as	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	obj	_	_
33	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
34	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	35	advmod	_	_
35	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’s	's	PART	POS	_	35	case	_	_
37	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
38	ached	ache	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	advcl	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
45	dancing	dance	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	44	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
47	dancing	dance	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	45	conj	_	_
48	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	50	det:predet	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
51	for	for	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
53	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
54	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Maurice's mother |  |  | the big tears |  | plainly, see *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **roll down** | past · progressive | the big tears | mother's cheeks |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cheek=Agent |
| 3 | **see** | past | mother | matter |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 4 | **ache** | past · progressive | mother's heart | much |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **ache** | past | mother's heart |  |  |  |  | for a son | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for son=Theme |
| 6 | **keep** | past | heart |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **dance** | gerund | heart *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **dance** | gerund | heart *not said here* |  |  |  | time | for the bare life of mother | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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