---
title: The old man seized her hands eagerly, but no time was given him to a… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The old man seized her hands eagerly, but no time was given him to ask any questions, for the maiden drew him into the house, and set food before him, and waited on him herself. Who acts: old man, maiden. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 36, with its depe
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 36, sentence 72

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old man seized her hands eagerly, but no time was given him to ask any questions, for the maiden drew him into the house, and set food before him, and waited on him herself.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** old man, maiden · **What happens:** seize, give, ask, draw, wait · **To what, where:** hands, time, man, questions, house, life

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, maiden), 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:pg5615:36:72
# text = The old man seized her hands eagerly, but no time was given him to ask any questions, for the maiden drew him into the house, and set food before him, and waited on him herself.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	seized	seize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	eagerly	eagerly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	11	det	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	iobj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
17	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	18	det	_	_
18	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	maiden	maiden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	nsubj	_	_
23	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	into	into	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	set	set	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
32	before	before	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	waited	wait	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
37	on	on	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obl	_	_
39	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seize** | past | the old man | life's hands |  |  |  | eagerly *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Theme |
| 2 | **give** | past · passive |  | no time | man |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient he=Theme |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive |  | any questions |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent question=Recipient |
| 4 | **draw** | past | the maiden | man |  |  |  | into the house *result*; set food before man *obl* | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent he=Patient into house=Result |
| 5 | **wait** | past | the old man *not said here* | life |  |  |  | on man | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on he=Location |

<!-- .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 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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