---
title: No one seemed to know the old woman who bought the vegetables either… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: No one seemed to know the old woman who bought the vegetables either; only one old woman, who is ninety years old, said it might have been the fairy Herbaline, who came into the town once in every fifty years to buy things.’ Who acts: one, old woman, one old woman, Many. A sentence of «The Violet Fa
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No one seemed to know the old woman who bought the vegetables either; only one old woman, who is ninety years old, said it might have been the fairy Herbaline, who came into the town once in every fifty years to buy things.’

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**Who acts:** one, old woman, one old woman, Many, fairy · **What happens:** seem, know, buy, be, say, come · **To what, where:** one old woman, old woman, vegetables, fairy, town, things · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one, old woman, one old woman, Many), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg641:27:25
# text = No one seemed to know the old woman who bought the vegetables either; only one old woman, who is ninety years old, said it might have been the fairy Herbaline, who came into the town once in every fifty years to buy things.’
1	No	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	2	det	_	_
2	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	bought	buy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	vegetables	vegetable	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
13	either	either	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
15	only	only	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
16	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	nummod	_	_
17	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	ninety	ninety	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	nummod	_	_
23	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl:unmarked	_	_
24	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
28	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
29	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	aux	_	_
30	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	32	cop	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	ccomp	_	_
33	Herbaline	Herbaline	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	36	nsubj	_	_
36	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	parataxis	_	_
37	into	into	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
40	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	36	advmod	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
42	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	44	det	_	_
43	fifty	fifty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	44	nummod	_	_
44	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	buy	buy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	advcl	_	_
47	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | no one | one old woman |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **know** | to-infinitive | no one *not said here* | the old woman |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer woman=Stimulus |
| 3 | **buy** | past | the old woman | the vegetables |  |  |  | either *property* | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vegetable=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | present | one old woman |  |  |  | year | old *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | no one *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is a** | might · perfect | Many | the fairy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **come** | past | the fairy |  |  | the town | year | once *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into town=Initial\_Location |
| 8 | **buy** | to-infinitive | the fairy *not said here* | things |  |  |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=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 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.

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