--- title: The queen was about to reply, but the old woman was already limping… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The queen was about to reply, but the old woman was already limping away, and before she had gone two steps she had turned into a young girl, who moved so quickly that she seemed rather to fly than to walk. Who acts: queen, old woman, woman, two steps. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/12/29/) [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 Violet Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/) / [The Child Who Came From an Egg](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/12/) / 29 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Child Who Came From an Egg, sentence 29 The queen was about to reply, but the old woman was already limping away, and before she had gone two steps she had turned into a young girl, who moved so quickly that she seemed rather to fly than to walk. **Who acts:** queen, old woman, woman, two steps · **What happens:** be, reply, limp away, go, turn, move · **To what, where:** two steps This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Child Who Came From an Egg. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (queen, old woman, woman, two steps), 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:pg641:12:29 # text = The queen was about to reply, but the old woman was already limping away, and before she had gone two steps she had turned into a young girl, who moved so quickly that she seemed rather to fly than to walk. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 queen queen NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 4 about about ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 6 mark _ _ 6 reply reply VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 8 but but CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 10 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 12 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 aux _ _ 13 already already ADV RB _ 14 advmod _ _ 14 limping limp VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 conj _ _ 15 away away ADV RB _ 14 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 18 before before SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 19 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 20 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 21 gone go VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 4 parataxis _ _ 22 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 23 nummod _ _ 23 steps step NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 obj _ _ 24 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 25 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 turned turn VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 23 acl:relcl _ _ 27 into into ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 29 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 30 girl girl NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 32 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 33 nsubj _ _ 33 moved move VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 acl:relcl _ _ 34 so so ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 35 quickly quickly ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 36 that that SCONJ IN _ 38 mark _ _ 37 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 38 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 advcl _ _ 39 rather rather ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 40 to to PART TO _ 41 mark _ _ 41 fly fly VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 xcomp _ _ 42 than than SCONJ IN _ 44 mark _ _ 43 to to PART TO _ 44 mark _ _ 44 walk walk VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 41 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the queen | | | | | about *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **reply** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | the queen *not said here* | | | | | | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **limp away** | past · progressive | the old woman | | | | | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **go** | past · perfect | woman | two steps | | | | | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location step=Theme | | 5 | **turn** | past · perfect | woman | two steps *not said here* | | | | into a young girl *result* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent step=Theme into girl=Result | | 6 | **move** | past | two steps | | | | | quickly *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **seem** | past | woman | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | | 8 | **fly** | to-infinitive | woman *not said here* | | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 9 | **walk** | to-infinitive | woman *not said here* | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/12/28/) - next →: [sentence 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/12/30/) - ↑ back to [The Child Who Came From an Egg](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/12/)