--- title: The auld wife had washed till she was tired, and then she set to her… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The auld wife had washed till she was tired, and then she set to her dochter, and baith washed, and they washed, and they better washed, in hopes of getting the young knight; but a’ they could do they couldna bring out a stain. Who acts: wife, sarks, hopes, ’. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/55/58/) [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/) / [The Black Bull of Norroway](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/55/) / 58 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Black Bull of Norroway, sentence 58 The auld wife had washed till she was tired, and then she set to her dochter, and baith washed, and they washed, and they better washed, in hopes of getting the young knight; but a’ they could do they couldna bring out a stain. **Who acts:** wife, sarks, hopes, ’ · **What happens:** wash, be, set, better, get, do · **To what, where:** auld wife, hopes, young knight, ’, stain This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Black Bull of Norroway. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wife, sarks, hopes, ’), 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:pg503:55:58 # text = The auld wife had washed till she was tired, and then she set to her dochter, and baith washed, and they washed, and they better washed, in hopes of getting the young knight; but a’ they could do they couldna bring out a stain. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 auld auld ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj:pass _ _ 4 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 5 washed wash VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 6 till till SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 7 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 8 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 cop _ _ 9 tired tired ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 12 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 14 advmod _ _ 13 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 14 set set VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 15 to to ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 17 nmod:poss _ _ 17 dochter dochter NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 20 baith baith ADV RB _ 21 advmod _ _ 21 washed wash VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 5 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 24 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 washed wash VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 28 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 better better VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 25 conj _ _ 30 washed wash VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 29 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 32 in in ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 hopes hope NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obl _ _ 34 of of SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 35 getting get VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 33 acl _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 37 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 knight knight NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 39 ; ; PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 40 but but CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 41 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 42 det _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ’ ' NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nsubj _ _ 43 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 44 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 45 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 42 acl:relcl _ _ 46 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 47 couldna couldna X FW Foreign=Yes 48 dep _ _ 48 bring bring VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 conj _ _ 49 out out ADP RP _ 48 compound:prt _ _ 50 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 stain stain NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **wash** | past · perfect · passive | | the auld wife | | | | | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 2 | **is** | past | wife | | | | | tired *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **set** | past | wife | | | | then | to wife's dochter | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 4 | **wash** | participle | | | | | | baith *property* | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **wash** | past | sarks *= sark* | | | | | | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **better** | present | sarks *= sark* | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **wash** | participle | sarks *= sark* *not said here* | | | hopes | | | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **get** | gerund | hopes *not said here* | the young knight | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer knight=Stimulus | | 9 | **do** | could | sarks *= sark* | a ’ *not said here* | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent '=Eventuality | | 10 | **bring out** | infinitive | a ’ | a stain | | | | | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent stain=Patient | 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 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/55/57/) - next →: [sentence 59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/55/59/) - ↑ back to [The Black Bull of Norroway](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/55/)