---
title: But when the maiden started off with the basket on her arm, the wood… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But when the maiden started off with the basket on her arm, the wood pigeons had eaten up the peas, and she did not know which way to go. Who acts: maiden, wood pigeons. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 3, sentence 18

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But when the maiden started off with the basket on her arm, the wood pigeons had eaten up the peas, and she did not know which way to go.

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**Who acts:** maiden, wood pigeons · **What happens:** start off, eat up, not know, go · **To what, where:** peas, way

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (maiden, wood pigeons), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg5615:3:18
# text = But when the maiden started off with the basket on her arm, the wood pigeons had eaten up the peas, and she did not know which way to go.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	maiden	maiden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	off	off	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	basket	basket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	pigeons	pigeon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	parataxis	_	_
19	up	up	ADP	RP	_	18	compound:prt	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	peas	pea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
28	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	29	det	_	_
29	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start off** | past | the maiden |  |  |  |  | with the basket on maiden's arm | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V PP.subeventuality»: agent=Eventuality with basket=Subeventuality |
| 2 | **eat up** | past · perfect | the wood pigeons | the peas |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | maiden | which way |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer way=Stimulus |
| 4 | **go** | to-infinitive | maiden *not said here* | which way *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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 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.

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