--- title: Then she sat down to her work once more and span on, and as she did… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Then she sat down to her work once more and span on, and as she did so an old saying which, she had often heard her godmother repeat whilst at work, came into her head, and she began to sing: Who acts: girl. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle, with its --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/44/23/) [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 Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/) / [Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/44/) / 23 # The Green Fairy Book, Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle, sentence 23 Then she sat down to her work once more and span on, and as she did so an old saying which, she had often heard her godmother repeat whilst at work, came into her head, and she began to sing: **Who acts:** girl · **What happens:** sit down, span on, do, hear, come, begin · **To what, where:** old saying, head This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle. 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. **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:pg7277:44:23 # text = Then she sat down to her work once more and span on, and as she did so an old saying which, she had often heard her godmother repeat whilst at work, came into her head, and she began to sing: 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 3 advmod _ _ 2 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 down down ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 5 to to ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 7 nmod:poss _ _ 7 work work NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 8 once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 9 advmod _ _ 9 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 3 advmod _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 span span VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 conj _ _ 12 on on ADP RP _ 11 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 15 as as SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 16 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 17 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 18 so so ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 19 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 20 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 saying saying NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ _ 22 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 27 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 24 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 25 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 26 often often ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 27 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 21 acl:relcl _ _ 28 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 29 godmother godmother NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 compound _ _ 30 repeat repeat NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obj _ _ 31 whilst whilst SCONJ IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 at at ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 work work NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 35 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 36 into into ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 38 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 41 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 42 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 43 to to PART TO _ 44 mark _ _ 44 sing sing VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 42 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 45 : : PUNCT : _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit down** | past | girl | | | | then | to girl's work; down *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **span on** | infinitive | girl *not said here* | | | | | | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **do** | past | girl | a old saying | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent saying=Eventuality | | 4 | **hear** | past · perfect | girl | a old saying | | | | whilst work; often *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **come** | past | girl *not said here* | | | girl's head | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into head=Initial\_Location | | 6 | **begin** | past | girl | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 7 | **sing** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | girl *not said here* | | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **work** | | girl | | | | | | nom work «act intransitive»: poss=agent | | 9 | **repeat** | | girl | | | | | | nom repeat «event transitive»: poss=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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/44/22/) - next →: [sentence 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/44/24/) - ↑ back to [Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/44/)