---
title: The thieves were alarmed, and said, "But do speak softly, so as not… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: The thieves were alarmed, and said, "But do speak softly, so as not to waken any one!" A sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, The Water of Life, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, The Water of Life, sentence 131

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The thieves were alarmed, and said, "But do speak softly, so as not to waken any one!"

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**What happens:** alarm, say, speak, not waken · **To what, where:** thieves, one · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, The Water of Life. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg11027:17:131
# text = The thieves were alarmed, and said, "But do speak softly, so as not to waken any one!"
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	thieves	thief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	alarmed	alarm	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
13	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	waken	waken	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
20	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	21	det	_	_
21	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **alarm** | past · passive |  | the thieves |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: express* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present · do-support |  |  |  |  |  | softly *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **not** **waken** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | any one |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent one=Patient |

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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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