--- title: Often she was very sad and lonely, and it happened that one day whil… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Often she was very sad and lonely, and it happened that one day while she was seated at the window, letting salt tears drop on her work, an old woman, a kind, homely-looking old body, stepped up to the window, and, leaning upon her crutch, addressed the Queen in friendly, flattering tones, saying: W --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/29/6/) [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 Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The White Duck](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/29/) / 6 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The White Duck, sentence 6 Often she was very sad and lonely, and it happened that one day while she was seated at the window, letting salt tears drop on her work, an old woman, a kind, homely-looking old body, stepped up to the window, and, leaning upon her crutch, addressed the Queen in friendly, flattering tones, saying: **Who acts:** Queen, it, salt tears, leaning · **What happens:** be, happen, seat, let, drop, look · **To what, where:** Queen, window, work, crutch, friendly flattering tones · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Duck. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Queen, it, salt tears, leaning), 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:pg640:29:6 # text = Often she was very sad and lonely, and it happened that one day while she was seated at the window, letting salt tears drop on her work, an old woman, a kind, homely-looking old body, stepped up to the window, and, leaning upon her crutch, addressed the Queen in friendly, flattering tones, saying: 1 Often often ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 2 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 very very ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 5 sad sad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 7 lonely lonely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 10 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 happened happen VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 12 that that SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ _ 13 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 14 nummod _ _ 14 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl:unmarked _ _ 15 while while SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 16 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 17 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 aux:pass _ _ 18 seated seat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 advcl _ _ 19 at at ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 window window NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 23 letting let VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 18 advcl _ _ 24 salt salt NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 compound _ _ 25 tears tear NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 nsubj _ _ 26 drop drop VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 xcomp _ _ 27 on on ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 29 nmod:poss _ _ 29 work work NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 31 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 32 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 33 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 35 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 36 kind kind ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 38 homely homely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 39 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 38 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 40 looking look VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 42 amod _ _ 41 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 body body NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 44 stepped step VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 parataxis _ _ 45 up up ADP RP _ 44 compound:prt _ _ 46 to to ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 window window NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 49 , , PUNCT , _ 57 punct _ _ 50 and and CCONJ CC _ 57 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 51 , , PUNCT , _ 52 punct _ _ 52 leaning lean VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 57 csubj _ _ 53 upon upon ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 54 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 55 nmod:poss _ _ 55 crutch crutch NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 52 punct _ _ 57 addressed address VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 44 conj _ _ 58 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 59 det _ _ 59 Queen Queen PROPN NNP Number=Sing 57 obj _ _ 60 in in ADP IN _ 64 case _ _ 61 friendly friendly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 64 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 62 , , PUNCT , _ 61 punct _ _ 63 flattering flattering ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 64 amod _ _ 64 tones tone NOUN NNS Number=Plur 57 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 65 , , PUNCT , _ 66 punct _ _ 66 saying say VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 57 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 67 : : PUNCT : _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | Queen | | | | | often, sad *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **be** | | Queen *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **happen** | past | it | | | | day | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **seat** | past · passive | | Queen | | the window | | | vn fit-54.3 «NP.location V NP»: subject=Value | | 5 | **let** | gerund | | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **drop** | present | salt tears | | | Queen's work | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme on work=Trajectory | | 7 | **look** | gerund | | | | | | | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 8 | **step up** | past | | | | the window | | | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to window=Destination | | 9 | **lean** | gerund | | | | Queen's crutch | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon crutch=Location | | 10 | **address** | past | leaning | | the Queen | friendly flattering tones | | | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent queen=Destination | | 11 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | leaning *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 12 | **work** | | Queen | | | | | | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent | 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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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