---
title: This strange old woman, without saying a single word, hobbled three… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: This strange old woman, without saying a single word, hobbled three times round the gallery, followed by the basilisks, then stopping in the middle, and brandishing her crutch threateningly, she cried: Who acts: This, strange old woman, single word, woman. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andr
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Yellow Dwarf, part 2, sentence 30

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
This strange old woman, without saying a single word, hobbled three times round the gallery, followed by the basilisks, then stopping in the middle, and brandishing her crutch threateningly, she cried:

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**Who acts:** This, strange old woman, single word, woman · **What happens:** woman, say, hobble, follow, stop, brandish · **To what, where:** single word, gallery, middle, crutch · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Yellow Dwarf, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, strange old woman, single word, woman), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg503:6:30
# text = This strange old woman, without saying a single word, hobbled three times round the gallery, followed by the basilisks, then stopping in the middle, and brandishing her crutch threateningly, she cried:
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	nsubj	_	_
2	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	saying	say	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	hobbled	hobble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
13	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl:unmarked	_	_
15	round	round	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	gallery	gallery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	followed	follow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	basilisks	basilisk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	25	advmod	_	_
25	stopping	stop	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	conj	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	brandishing	brandish	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	conj	_	_
32	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	crutch	crutch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	threateningly	threateningly	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **woman** |  | This |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | strange old woman *not said here* | a single word |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic |
| 3 | **hobble** | past | a single word *not said here* |  |  | the gallery | time |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme round gallery=Trajectory |
| 4 | **follow** | participle |  | the gallery *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **stop** | gerund | strange old woman *not said here* |  |  | the middle | then |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in middle=Location |
| 6 | **brandish** | gerund | strange old woman *not said here* | woman's crutch |  |  |  | threateningly *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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