--- title: So the witch saw there was no help to be got from her old servants,… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: So the witch saw there was no help to be got from her old servants, and that the best thing she could do was to mount on her broom and set off in pursuit of the children. Who acts: witch, help, best thing. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch (28), with its dependency tree --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/68/) [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 Witch (28)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/) / 68 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch (28), sentence 68 So the witch saw there was no help to be got from her old servants, and that the best thing she could do was to mount on her broom and set off in pursuit of the children. **Who acts:** witch, help, best thing · **What happens:** see, be, get, do, set off, pursue · **To what, where:** old servants, best thing, broom, pursuit, children · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (witch, help, best thing), 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:pg640:39:68 # text = So the witch saw there was no help to be got from her old servants, and that the best thing she could do was to mount on her broom and set off in pursuit of the children. 1 So so ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 witch witch NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 6 expl _ _ 6 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 ccomp _ _ 7 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 8 det _ _ 8 help help NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 9 to to PART TO _ 11 mark _ _ 10 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 11 aux:pass _ _ 11 got get VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 8 acl _ _ 12 from from ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 13 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 14 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 servants servant NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 18 that that SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 20 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 21 amod _ _ 21 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ _ 22 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 23 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 24 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 acl:relcl _ _ 25 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 cop _ _ 26 to to PART TO _ 27 mark _ _ 27 mount mount VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 conj _ _ 28 on on ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 30 broom broom NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 32 set set VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 33 off off ADP RP _ 32 compound:prt _ _ 34 in in ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 pursuit pursuit NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ _ 36 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 39 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | past | the witch | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **be** | past | no help | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **get** | to-infinitive · passive | no help *not said here* | | | help's old servants | | | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: from servant=Destination | | 4 | **do** | could | witch | the best thing *not said here* | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality | | 5 | **is** | past | the best thing | | | help's broom | | mount *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **set off** | past | the witch *not said here* | | | pursuit of the children | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **pursue** | | | the children | | | | | nom pursuit «act transitive»: of=patient | 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. - ← previous: [sentence 67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/67/) - next →: [sentence 69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/69/) - ↑ back to [The Witch (28)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/)