---
title: They were very old, and as grey-headed as a pigeon, and the old woma… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They were very old, and as grey-headed as a pigeon, and the old woman had such a long nose that she sat in the chimney corner and used it to stir the fire. Who acts: lights, old woman, long nose. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Soria Moria Castle, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Soria Moria Castle, sentence 134

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were very old, and as grey-headed as a pigeon, and the old woman had such a long nose that she sat in the chimney corner and used it to stir the fire.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** lights, old woman, long nose · **What happens:** be, head, have, sit, use, stir · **To what, where:** long nose, chimney corner, nose, fire

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Soria Moria Castle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lights, old woman, long nose), 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:pg540:6:134
# text = They were very old, and as grey-headed as a pigeon, and the old woman had such a long nose that she sat in the chimney corner and used it to stir the fire.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	headed	head	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
11	as	as	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	pigeon	pigeon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
20	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	23	det:predet	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
25	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	chimney	chimney	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	stir	stir	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	advcl	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | lights *= light* |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **head** | participle | lights *= light* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | as a pigeon | vn conduct-111.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **have** | past | the old woman | such long nose |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nose=Patient |
| 4 | **sit** | past | such long nose |  |  | the chimney corner |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in corner=Location |
| 5 | **use** | past | such long nose *not said here* | nose |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 6 | **stir** | to-infinitive | such long nose *not said here* | the fire |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus fire=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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