---
title: He had always been bad to do with since the day he was born, and his… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He had always been bad to do with since the day he was born, and his mother did not often care to cross him; indeed, the more she tried to make him obey her, the less heed he paid to anything she said, so it usually ended by his taking his own way. Who acts: fire, day, mother, less heed. A sentence 
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 2, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had always been bad to do with since the day he was born, and his mother did not often care to cross him; indeed, the more she tried to make him obey her, the less heed he paid to anything she said, so it usually ended by his taking his own way.

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**Who acts:** fire, day, mother, less heed, heed, bed · **What happens:** be, do, bear, not care, cross, try · **To what, where:** fire, mother, own way · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fire, day, mother, less heed), 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:pg14241:16:45
# text = He had always been bad to do with since the day he was born, and his mother did not often care to cross him; indeed, the more she tried to make him obey her, the less heed he paid to anything she said, so it usually ended by his taking his own way.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	cop	_	_
5	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	csubj	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	since	since	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
19	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
21	often	often	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	care	care	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	cross	cross	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	32	advmod	_	_
31	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	obey	obey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
37	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
40	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	41	amod	_	_
41	heed	heed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
43	paid	pay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	parataxis	_	_
44	to	to	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	43	obl	_	_
46	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
49	so	so	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
50	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
51	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
52	ended	end	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	conj	_	_
53	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
54	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Gender=Masc|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
55	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	52	advcl	_	_
56	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
57	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	58	amod	_	_
58	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past · perfect | fire |  |  |  |  | always, bad *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  | day |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **bear** | past · passive | the day *not said here* | fire |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **care** | past · do-support | fire's mother |  |  |  |  | often *property* | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **cross** | to-infinitive | fire's mother *not said here* | fire |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 6 | **try** | past | mother |  |  |  |  | indeed *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **make** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | mother *not said here* | fire |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **obey** *not said to happen* | infinitive | fire *not said here* | mother |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme |
| 9 | **pay** | past | the less heed |  |  |  |  | to anything | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | heed |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 11 | **end** | past | bed |  |  |  |  | usually *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 12 | **take** | gerund | fire | fire's own way |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |

<!-- .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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