---
title: ‘My son,’ answered the old woman, ‘I am a very poor woman, and soon… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘My son,’ answered the old woman, ‘I am a very poor woman, and soon after midnight I set out for the neighbouring town in order to sell my eggs in the market on the following morning; but I lost my way in the dark, and fell into this deep ditch, where I might have remained for ever but for your kind
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Flower Queen’s Daughter(23), sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘My son,’ answered the old woman, ‘I am a very poor woman, and soon after midnight I set out for the neighbouring town in order to sell my eggs in the market on the following morning; but I lost my way in the dark, and fell into this deep ditch, where I might have remained for ever but for your kindness.’

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**Who acts:** son, I · **What happens:** answer, be, set out, neighbour, sell, follow · **To what, where:** old woman, poor woman, eggs, market, way, dark

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Flower Queen’s Daughter(23). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (son, I), 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:pg640:34:8
# text = ‘My son,’ answered the old woman, ‘I am a very poor woman, and soon after midnight I set out for the neighbouring town in order to sell my eggs in the market on the following morning; but I lost my way in the dark, and fell into this deep ditch, where I might have remained for ever but for your kindness.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
13	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
15	very	very	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	22	advmod	_	_
21	after	after	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	midnight	midnight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	RP	_	24	compound:prt	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	neighbouring	neighbour	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	29	amod	_	_
29	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	sell	sell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
34	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	market	market	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
39	on	on	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
41	following	follow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	42	amod	_	_
42	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	46	punct	_	_
44	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
45	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
47	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	_
49	in	in	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	dark	dark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
54	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	conj	_	_
55	into	into	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
56	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	58	det	_	_
57	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	ditch	ditch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
60	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	64	advmod	_	_
61	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
62	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
63	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	64	aux	_	_
64	remained	remain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	58	acl:relcl	_	_
65	for	for	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
66	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	64	obl	_	_
67	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	70	cc	_	_
68	for	for	ADP	IN	_	70	case	_	_
69	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	70	nmod:poss	_	_
70	kindness	kindness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	66	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
72	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	46	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | My son |  | the old woman |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent woman=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is a** | present | I | a poor woman |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **set out** | past | I |  |  |  | midnight | for the neighbouring town in order | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **neighbour** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **sell** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | my eggs |  | the market on the following morning |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent egg=Theme |
| 6 | **follow** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **lose** | past | I | my way |  | the dark |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Eventuality |
| 8 | **fall** | past | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | into this deep ditch *result* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into ditch=Result |
| 9 | **remain** | might · perfect | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 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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