---
title: "Would you threaten us, you strolling vagabond?" shrieked the Mayor,… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: "Would you threaten us, you strolling vagabond?" shrieked the Mayor, and at the same time he winked to the Council; "the rats are all dead and drowned," muttered he; and so "You may do your worst, my good man," and with that he turned short upon his heel. Who acts: you, townsfolk, rats. A sentence o
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 1, sentence 52

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"Would you threaten us, you strolling vagabond?" shrieked the Mayor, and at the same time he winked to the Council; "the rats are all dead and drowned," muttered he; and so "You may do your worst, my good man," and with that he turned short upon his heel.

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**Who acts:** you, townsfolk, rats · **What happens:** threaten, stroll, shriek, wink, be, drown · **To what, where:** us, vagabond, Mayor, Council, townsfolk, worst · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (you, townsfolk, rats), 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:pg14241:15:52
# text = "Would you threaten us, you strolling vagabond?" shrieked the Mayor, and at the same time he winked to the Council; "the rats are all dead and drowned," muttered he; and so "You may do your worst, my good man," and with that he turned short upon his heel.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	threaten	threaten	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	ccomp	_	_
5	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	strolling	stroll	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
9	vagabond	vagabond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
12	shrieked	shriek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Mayor	Mayor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	winked	wink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	Council	Council	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	rats	rat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj	_	_
30	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
31	all	all	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	advcl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	drowned	drown	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	37	punct	_	_
37	muttered	mutter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	41	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
41	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
42	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
44	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
45	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	parataxis	_	_
46	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	worst	bad	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
49	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
50	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	45	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
55	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
56	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
57	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
58	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	conj	_	_
59	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	xcomp	_	_
60	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	62	nmod:poss	_	_
62	heel	heel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **threaten** *in a quote* | would | you | us |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus we=Experiencer |
| 2 | **stroll** *in a quote* | gerund | you | vagabond |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme vagabond=Trajectory |
| 3 | **shriek** | past |  | the Mayor |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **wink** | past | townsfolk |  | the Council |  | time |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to council=Recipient |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the rats |  |  |  |  | all, dead *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **drown** *in a quote* | participle | the rats *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **mutter** *speech: assert* | past | townsfolk *not said here* | townsfolk |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Topic |
| 8 | **do** *in a quote* | may | You | your worst |  |  |  | my good man *obl* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bad=Eventuality |
| 9 | **turn** | past | townsfolk |  |  | townsfolk's heel |  | short *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme upon heel=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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