--- title: But the old woman seized hold of the branches and flung herself like… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: But the old woman seized hold of the branches and flung herself like a monkey from one to the others, and always she drew nearer--always, always--till their hair was singed by the flames of her mouth. Who acts: old woman, woman, flames, mouth. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/106/) [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 Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, pa…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/) / 106 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2, sentence 106 But the old woman seized hold of the branches and flung herself like a monkey from one to the others, and always she drew nearer--always, always--till their hair was singed by the flames of her mouth. **Who acts:** old woman, woman, flames, mouth · **What happens:** seize, fling, draw, singe, hold, flame · **To what, where:** hold, woman, hair, branches This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, 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 (old woman, woman, flames, mouth), 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:pg641:39:106 # text = But the old woman seized hold of the branches and flung herself like a monkey from one to the others, and always she drew nearer--always, always--till their hair was singed by the flames of her mouth. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 3 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 seized seize VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 hold hold NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 branches branch NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nmod _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 flung fling VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 12 herself herself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 11 obj _ _ 13 like like ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 monkey monkey NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ _ 16 from from ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 11 obl _ _ 18 to to ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 others other NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 23 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 25 advmod _ _ 24 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 drew draw VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 26 nearer near ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 25 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 27 -- -- PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 28 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 25 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 30 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 28 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 -- -- PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 till till SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 33 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 34 hair hair NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nsubj _ _ 35 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux:pass _ _ 36 singed singe VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 25 conj _ _ 37 by by ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 flames flame NOUN NNS Number=Plur 36 obl _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 42 mouth mouth NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **seize** | past | the old woman | hold of the branches | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Theme | | 2 | **fling** | past | the old woman *not said here* | woman | | | | like a monkey; from one to the others | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent herself=Theme from one=Initial\_Location | | 3 | **draw** | past | woman | | | | | always, near *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **singe** | past · passive | the flames of hair's mouth | branches's hair | | | | | vn remedy-45.7 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent subject=Patient | | 5 | **hold** | | | the branches | | | | | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient | | 6 | **flame** | | hair's mouth | | | | | | nom flame «process intransitive»: of=agent | 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 105](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/105/) - next →: [The Girl Who Pretended to Be…, 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/40/1/) - ↑ back to [The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/39/)