--- title: It was so dark that she could not see a hand’s breadth before her, b… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: It was so dark that she could not see a hand’s breadth before her, but she felt her way, and hacked the heads off all the sleepers who had the men’s night-caps on--and these were her own daughters. Who acts: axe, Witch, sleepers, these. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fa --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/28/29/) [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 Pink Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/) / [The Pink Fairy Book, part 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/28/) / 29 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 28, sentence 29 It was so dark that she could not see a hand’s breadth before her, but she felt her way, and hacked the heads off all the sleepers who had the men’s night-caps on--and these were her own daughters. **Who acts:** axe, Witch, sleepers, these · **What happens:** be, not see, feel, hack, have · **To what, where:** breadth, way, heads, own daughters This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 28. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (axe, Witch, sleepers, these), 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:pg5615:28:29 # text = It was so dark that she could not see a hand’s breadth before her, but she felt her way, and hacked the heads off all the sleepers who had the men’s night-caps on--and these were her own daughters. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 so so ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 dark dark ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 that that SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 6 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 7 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 8 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 9 advmod _ _ 9 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 advcl _ _ 10 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 12 ’s 's PART POS _ 11 case _ _ 13 breadth breadth NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 14 before before ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 17 but but CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 18 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 felt feel VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 20 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 21 nmod:poss _ _ 21 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 24 hacked hack VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 conj _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 heads head NOUN NNS Number=Plur 24 obj _ _ 27 off off ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 28 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 30 det:predet _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 sleepers sleeper NOUN NNS Number=Plur 24 obl _ _ 31 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 32 nsubj _ _ 32 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 acl:relcl _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 35 ’s 's PART POS _ 34 case _ _ 36 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 37 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 38 caps cap NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 nsubj _ _ 39 on on ADP IN _ 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 -- -- PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 42 these this PRON DT Number=Plur|PronType=Dem 46 nsubj _ _ 43 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 cop _ _ 44 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 46 nmod:poss _ _ 45 own own ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 amod _ _ 46 daughters daughter NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | axe | | | | | dark *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **not** **see** | could | Witch | a hand's breadth | | | before sweetheart | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer breadth=Stimulus | | 3 | **feel** | past | Witch | Witch's way | | | | | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme | | 4 | **hack** | past | Witch *not said here* | the heads | | | | off all sleepers | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent head=Patient off sleeper=Co-Patient | | 5 | **have** | past | all sleepers | | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is a** | past | these | Witch's own daughters | | | | | tree rules | 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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/28/28/) - next →: [sentence 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/28/30/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/28/)