---
title: The old woman struck her hands together: ‘Ah, to think of it! if tha… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The old woman struck her hands together: ‘Ah, to think of it! if that were to be, what should I do?’ and she sat down by her daughter, and they both wrung their hands and let their tears flow. Who acts: old woman, I, woman, hands. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy 
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 36, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old woman struck her hands together: ‘Ah, to think of it! if that were to be, what should I do?’ and she sat down by her daughter, and they both wrung their hands and let their tears flow.

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**Who acts:** old woman, I, woman, hands, tears · **What happens:** strike, think, do, sit down, wring, let · **To what, where:** hands · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old woman, I, woman, hands), 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:pg3454:36:29
# text = The old woman struck her hands together: ‘Ah, to think of it! if that were to be, what should I do?’ and she sat down by her daughter, and they both wrung their hands and let their tears flow.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	together	together	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
9	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	Ah	ah	INTJ	UH	_	13	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
17	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	nsubj	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	26	obj	_	_
24	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	26	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
32	down	down	ADP	RP	_	31	compound:prt	_	_
33	by	by	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
39	both	both	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	wrung	wring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
41	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obj	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	ccomp	_	_
45	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nsubj	_	_
47	flow	flow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strike** | past | the old woman | woman's hands |  |  |  | together *property* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Patient |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the old woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of saddle | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **do** | should | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 4 | **sit down** | past | woman |  |  |  |  | by woman's daughter | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by daughter=Location |
| 5 | **wring** | past | hands *= hand* | hands's hands |  |  |  | both *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **let** | infinitive | hands *= hand* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **flow** | present | hands's tears |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=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 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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