---
title: Soon after the parish sexton came in for a gossip, so the father tol… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: Soon after the parish sexton came in for a gossip, so the father told him his troubles, and how that his younger son was such a simpleton that he knew nothing and could learn nothing. " Who acts: father, younger son. A sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Oh, If I Could But Shiver!, w
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, Oh, If I Could But Shiver!, sentence 15

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Soon after the parish sexton came in for a gossip, so the father told him his troubles, and how that his younger son was such a simpleton that he knew nothing and could learn nothing. "

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**Who acts:** father, younger son · **What happens:** come in, tell, be, know, learn, trouble · **To what, where:** troubles, shivering, simpleton, nothing · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Oh, If I Could But Shiver!. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, younger son), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg11027:9:15
# text = Soon after the parish sexton came in for a gossip, so the father told him his troubles, and how that his younger son was such a simpleton that he knew nothing and could learn nothing. "
1	Soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
2	after	after	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	parish	parish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	_
5	sexton	sexton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
6	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	gossip	gossip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	troubles	trouble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	parataxis	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	younger	young	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	25	amod	_	_
25	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
27	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	29	det:predet	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	simpleton	simpleton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
33	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	32	obj	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	learn	learn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	conj	_	_
37	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
39	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come in** | past |  |  |  |  | after the parish sexton | for a gossip; soon *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the father | father's troubles | shivering |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient trouble=Topic |
| 3 | **is a** | past | father's younger son | such simpleton |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **know** | past | father | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 5 | **learn** | could | father *not said here* | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic |
| 6 | **trouble** |  | father |  |  |  |  |  | nom trouble «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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