--- title: Now the old woman, who was out spreading the hay, began to think din… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Now the old woman, who was out spreading the hay, began to think dinner was long in coming, and said to the women and the mowers: “Though the master does not call us home, we may as well go. Who acts: old woman, dinner, we. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Why the Sea Is Salt, wit --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/44/) [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 Blue Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/) / [Why the Sea Is Salt](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/) / 44 # The Blue Fairy Book, Why the Sea Is Salt, sentence 44 Now the old woman, who was out spreading the hay, began to think dinner was long in coming, and said to the women and the mowers: “Though the master does not call us home, we may as well go. **Who acts:** old woman, dinner, we · **What happens:** spread, begin, think, be, come, say · **To what, where:** hay, women, us · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Why the Sea Is Salt. 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, dinner, we), 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:pg503:20:44 # text = Now the old woman, who was out spreading the hay, began to think dinner was long in coming, and said to the women and the mowers: “Though the master does not call us home, we may as well go. 1 Now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 4 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 3 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 6 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 9 nsubj _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 8 out out ADP RP _ 7 compound:prt _ _ 9 spreading spread VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 conj _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 hay hay NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 13 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 15 mark _ _ 15 think think VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 xcomp _ _ 16 dinner dinner NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nsubj _ _ 17 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 cop _ _ 18 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 ccomp _ _ 19 in in SCONJ IN _ 20 mark _ _ 20 coming come VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 18 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 parataxis _ _ 24 to to ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 women woman NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 obl _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 mowers mower NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 30 : : PUNCT : _ 37 punct _ _ 31 “ " PUNCT `` _ 37 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 Though though ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 master master NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ _ 35 does do AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 36 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 37 advmod _ _ 37 call call VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 23 parataxis _ _ 38 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ _ 39 home home ADV RB _ 37 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 41 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 42 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 43 as as ADV RB ExtPos=CCONJ 45 cc _ _ 44 well well ADV RB Degree=Pos 43 fixed _ _ 45 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 13 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **spread** | past · progressive | the old woman | the hay | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location hay=Theme | | 2 | **begin** | past | the old woman | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 3 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the old woman *not said here* | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **is** | past | dinner | | | | | long *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **come** | gerund | dinner *not said here* | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | | | the women and the mowers | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to woman=Recipient clause=Topic | | 7 | **not** **call** *in a quote* | present · do-support | | | us | | | though the master; home *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=Recipient | | 8 | **go** *in a quote* | may | we | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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 43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/43/) - next →: [sentence 45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/45/) - ↑ back to [Why the Sea Is Salt](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/)