---
title: Before he set out, however, he looked about his house to see if ther… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: Before he set out, however, he looked about his house to see if there were anything he could carry with him, but he found only an old cheese, which he pocketed, and observing a bird which was caught in the bushes before the door, he captured it, and put that in his pocket also. Who acts: world, old 
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, The Valiant Little Tailor, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Before he set out, however, he looked about his house to see if there were anything he could carry with him, but he found only an old cheese, which he pocketed, and observing a bird which was caught in the bushes before the door, he captured it, and put that in his pocket also.

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**Who acts:** world, old cheese · **What happens:** set out, look, see, be, carry, find · **To what, where:** anything, old cheese, bird, bushes, pocket

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This is a sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, The Valiant Little Tailor. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (world, old cheese), 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:pg11027:13:19
# text = Before he set out, however, he looked about his house to see if there were anything he could carry with him, but he found only an old cheese, which he pocketed, and observing a bird which was caught in the bushes before the door, he captured it, and put that in his pocket also.
1	Before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
6	however	however	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	about	about	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	17	expl	_	_
17	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
18	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	17	obj	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl:relcl	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
28	only	only	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
29	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	cheese	cheese	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	nsubj	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	pocketed	pocket	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	observing	observe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	advcl	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	_
41	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux:pass	_	_
43	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	acl:relcl	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	bushes	bush	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	_
47	before	before	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
51	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
52	captured	capture	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
53	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	conj	_	_
57	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	60	mark	_	_
58	in	in	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	60	nmod:poss	_	_
60	pocket	pocket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	_
61	also	also	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set out** | past | world |  |  |  |  | however *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **look** | past | world |  |  |  |  | about world's house | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent about house=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive | world *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | past |  | anything |  | there |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot anything=Theme |
| 5 | **carry** | could | world |  |  |  |  | with Tailor | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **find** | past | world | a old cheese |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cheese=Topic |
| 7 | **pocket** | past | a old cheese |  |  |  |  |  | vn pocket-9.10 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **observe** | gerund | world *not said here* | a bird |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent bird=Topic |
| 9 | **catch** | past · passive |  | a bird |  | the bushes | before the door |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 10 | **capture** | past | world | bird |  |  |  |  | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 11 | **put** | infinitive | world *not said here* | world's pocket |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent pocket=Goal |

<!-- .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:** «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 11027 (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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