---
title: When the gray women heard that laugh they began to weep, for now the… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the gray women heard that laugh they began to weep, for now they knew that a stranger had robbed them, and that they could not help themselves, and their tears froze as they fell from the hollows where no eyes were, and rattled on the icy ground of the cave. Who acts: gray women, that, women, t
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Terrible Head, sentence 61

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When the gray women heard that laugh they began to weep, for now they knew that a stranger had robbed them, and that they could not help themselves, and their tears froze as they fell from the hollows where no eyes were, and rattled on the icy ground of the cave.

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**Who acts:** gray women, that, women, tears · **What happens:** hear, laugh, begin, weep, know, rob · **To what, where:** stranger, women, hollows, eyes, icy ground · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Terrible Head. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (gray women, that, women, tears), 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:pg503:27:61
# text = When the gray women heard that laugh they began to weep, for now they knew that a stranger had robbed them, and that they could not help themselves, and their tears froze as they fell from the hollows where no eyes were, and rattled on the icy ground of the cave.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	gray	gray	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
7	laugh	laugh	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	weep	weep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	advmod	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	robbed	rob	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	ccomp	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
29	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
30	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	nsubj	_	_
35	froze	freeze	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	parataxis	_	_
36	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	advcl	_	_
39	from	from	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	hollows	hollow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	_
42	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	48	advmod	_	_
43	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	44	det	_	_
44	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	nsubj:pass	_	_
45	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	rattled	rattle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	41	acl	_	_
49	on	on	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
51	icy	icy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | the gray women |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **laugh** | present | that |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **begin** | past | women *= woman* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **weep** | to-infinitive | women *= woman* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **know** | past | women *= woman* |  |  |  | now |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **rob** | past · perfect · passive |  | a stranger |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **not** **help** | could | women *= woman* | women *= woman* |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Beneficiary |
| 8 | **freeze** | past | women's tears |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 9 | **fall** | past | women *= woman* |  |  | the hollows |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from hollow=Initial\_Location |
| 10 | **rattle** | past · passive |  | no eyes |  | the icy ground of the cave |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=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 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.

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