---
title: On the table were the most delicious cherries, and the old woman let… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: On the table were the most delicious cherries, and the old woman let Gerda eat as many as she liked, while she combed her hair with a gold comb as she ate. Who acts: old woman, Gerda. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 9, sentence 18

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On the table were the most delicious cherries, and the old woman let Gerda eat as many as she liked, while she combed her hair with a gold comb as she ate.

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**Who acts:** old woman, Gerda · **What happens:** be, let, eat, like, comb · **To what, where:** delicious cherries, table, Gerda, many, hair

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old woman, Gerda), 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:pg5615:9:18
# text = On the table were the most delicious cherries, and the old woman let Gerda eat as many as she liked, while she combed her hair with a gold comb as she ate.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	delicious	delicious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	cherries	cherry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	parataxis	_	_
15	Gerda	Gerda	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
16	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	as	as	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	obj	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	combed	comb	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
26	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
31	comb	comb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
32	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
33	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the delicious cherries |  | the table |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **let** | infinitive | the old woman | Gerda |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **eat** | infinitive | Gerda *not said here* | many |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent many=Patient |
| 4 | **like** | past | Gerda |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 5 | **comb** | past | Gerda | Gerda's hair |  |  |  | with a gold comb | vn braid-41.2.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hair=Patient |
| 6 | **eat** | past | Gerda |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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