--- title: ‘Nothing,’ said his wife; but all the time she was pondering over so… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: ‘Nothing,’ said his wife; but all the time she was pondering over some magic rhymes she had heard in her childhood from an old lame man, which were supposed to bring luck in fishing. Who acts: Nothing, wife. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 23, with its --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/23/85/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Lilac Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/) / [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/23/) / 85 # The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 23, sentence 85 ‘Nothing,’ said his wife; but all the time she was pondering over some magic rhymes she had heard in her childhood from an old lame man, which were supposed to bring luck in fishing. **Who acts:** Nothing, wife · **What happens:** say, ponder, hear, suppose, bring · **To what, where:** wife, magic rhymes, childhood, old lame man, luck, fishing · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Nothing, wife), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3454:23:85 # text = ‘Nothing,’ said his wife; but all the time she was pondering over some magic rhymes she had heard in her childhood from an old lame man, which were supposed to bring luck in fishing. 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 5 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 4 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ 5 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 7 nmod:poss _ _ 7 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 ; ; PUNCT : _ 15 punct _ _ 9 but but CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 10 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 12 det:predet _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl:unmarked _ _ 13 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 14 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 15 pondering ponder VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 advcl _ _ 16 over over ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 17 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 19 det _ _ 18 magic magic ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 amod _ _ 19 rhymes rhyme NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obl _ _ 20 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 21 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 22 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 19 acl:relcl _ _ 23 in in ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 25 nmod:poss _ _ 25 childhood childhood NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ _ 26 from from ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 27 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 28 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 29 lame lame ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 30 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 32 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 34 nsubj:pass _ _ 33 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 aux:pass _ _ 34 supposed suppose VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 30 acl:relcl _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 bring bring VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 xcomp _ _ 37 luck luck NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ _ 38 in in ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 fishing fishing NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Nothing | Ahti's wife | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent wife=Topic | | 2 | **ponder** | past · progressive | wife | | | some magic rhymes | time | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **hear** | past · perfect | wife | some magic rhymes *not said here* | | wife's childhood | | from a old lame man | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent rhyme=Topic from man=Source | | 4 | **suppose** | past · passive | | a old lame man | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme | | 5 | **bring** | to-infinitive | | luck | | fishing | | | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent luck=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/23/84/) - next →: [sentence 86](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/23/86/) - ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/23/)