---
title: But do what they might, cats or poison, terrier or traps, there seem… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But do what they might, cats or poison, terrier or traps, there seemed to be more rats than ever, and every day a fresh rat was cocking his tail or pricking his whiskers. Who acts: fresh rat. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 1, with its depend
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 1, sentence 18

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But do what they might, cats or poison, terrier or traps, there seemed to be more rats than ever, and every day a fresh rat was cocking his tail or pricking his whiskers.

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**Who acts:** fresh rat · **What happens:** seem, be, cock, prick · **To what, where:** more rats, tail, whiskers

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fresh rat), 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:pg14241:15:18
# text = But do what they might, cats or poison, terrier or traps, there seemed to be more rats than ever, and every day a fresh rat was cocking his tail or pricking his whiskers.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	appos	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	poison	poison	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	terrier	terrier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	traps	trap	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	16	expl	_	_
16	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	cop	_	_
19	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	20	amod	_	_
20	rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	xcomp	_	_
21	than	than	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
25	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	26	det	_	_
26	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl:unmarked	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	fresh	fresh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	cocking	cock	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	xcomp	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	pricking	prick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	conj	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	whiskers	whisker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past |  |  |  | there |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **is a** | to-infinitive |  | more rats |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **cock** | past · progressive | a fresh rat | end's tail |  |  | day |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient |
| 4 | **prick** | gerund | a fresh rat *not said here* | end's whiskers |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer whisker=Patient |

<!-- .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:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (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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