---
title: One day some drops of blood fell on her spindle, so she dipped it in… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: One day some drops of blood fell on her spindle, so she dipped it into the well meaning to wash it, but, as luck would have it, it dropped from her hand and fell right in. Who acts: drops, widow, luck. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mother Holle, part 1, with its dependency tree 
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Mother Holle, part 1, sentence 4

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One day some drops of blood fell on her spindle, so she dipped it into the well meaning to wash it, but, as luck would have it, it dropped from her hand and fell right in.

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**Who acts:** drops, widow, luck · **What happens:** fall, dip, mean, wash, have, drop · **To what, where:** spindle, well, hand

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mother Holle, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (drops, widow, luck), 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:pg540:44:4
# text = One day some drops of blood fell on her spindle, so she dipped it into the well meaning to wash it, but, as luck would have it, it dropped from her hand and fell right in.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	drops	drop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	spindle	spindle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	dipped	dip	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	into	into	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	well	well	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	meaning	mean	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	wash	wash	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	luck	luck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	advcl	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	dropped	drop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
34	from	from	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
39	right	right	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	in	in	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | past | some drops of blood |  |  | widow's spindle | day |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on spindle=Location |
| 2 | **dip** | past | widow | spindle |  | the well |  |  | vn funnel-9.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme into well=Destination |
| 3 | **mean** | gerund | widow *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **wash** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | widow *not said here* | spindle |  |  |  |  | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 5 | **have** | would | luck | spindle |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 6 | **drop** | past | luck |  |  | widow's hand |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme from hand=Trajectory |
| 7 | **fall** | past | luck *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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