---
title: Now, as the girl was sitting at her distaff, weeping bitterly becaus… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now, as the girl was sitting at her distaff, weeping bitterly because she could not spin, she heard the sound of hundreds of little feet, and from every hole and corner in the hut mice came pattering along the floor, squeaking and saying: Who acts: girl. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andr
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch (28), sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now, as the girl was sitting at her distaff, weeping bitterly because she could not spin, she heard the sound of hundreds of little feet, and from every hole and corner in the hut mice came pattering along the floor, squeaking and saying:

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**Who acts:** girl · **What happens:** sit, weep, not spin, hear, come, patter · **To what, where:** distaff, sound, hole, floor · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch (28). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (girl), 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:pg640:39:29
# text = Now, as the girl was sitting at her distaff, weeping bitterly because she could not spin, she heard the sound of hundreds of little feet, and from every hole and corner in the hut mice came pattering along the floor, squeaking and saying:
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	distaff	distaff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	weeping	weep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
13	bitterly	bitterly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	spin	spin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
20	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	hundreds	hundred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	33	det	_	_
33	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	conj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	hut	hut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	compound	_	_
39	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nmod	_	_
40	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
41	pattering	patter	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	40	xcomp	_	_
42	along	along	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
46	squeaking	squeak	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	41	conj	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	saying	say	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	46	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past · progressive | the girl |  |  | girl's distaff |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at distaff=Location |
| 2 | **weep** | gerund | the girl *not said here* |  |  |  |  | bitterly *property* | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **spin** | could | girl |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **hear** | past | girl | the sound of hundreds of little feet |  |  | now |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sound=Stimulus |
| 5 | **come** | past | girl *not said here* |  |  | every hole in the hut mice and corner |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **patter** | gerund | girl *not said here* |  |  | the floor |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme along floor=Location |
| 7 | **squeak** | gerund | girl *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | girl *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: 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 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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