---
title: It so happened that just as he was turning a corner, and the little… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: It so happened that just as he was turning a corner, and the little one was crying, "Gee up," two strange men came towards him. " Who acts: It, creature, little one, two strange men. A sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, The Water of Life, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, The Water of Life, sentence 90

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It so happened that just as he was turning a corner, and the little one was crying, "Gee up," two strange men came towards him. "

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**Who acts:** It, creature, little one, two strange men · **What happens:** happen, turn, cry, gee up, come · **To what, where:** corner · **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: who acts (It, creature, little one, two strange men), 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:pg11027:17:90
# text = It so happened that just as he was turning a corner, and the little one was crying, "Gee up," two strange men came towards him. "
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	so	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	crying	cry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	Gee	gee	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
22	up	up	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	_
25	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	nummod	_	_
26	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
28	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
29	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
32	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | It |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **turn** | past · progressive | creature | a corner |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent corner=Theme |
| 3 | **cry** *speech: express* | past · progressive | the little one |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **gee up** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **come** | past | two strange men |  |  |  |  | towards creature | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme towards he=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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