---
title: And all at once there came a bit ahead of him the pitifullest greeti… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And all at once there came a bit ahead of him the pitifullest greetings ever he heard, sob, sobbing, like a bairn spent with fear, and nigh heartbroken; breaking off into a moan and then rising again in a long whimpering wailing that made him feel sick to hark to it. Who acts: pitifullest greetings,
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 3, sentence 42

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And all at once there came a bit ahead of him the pitifullest greetings ever he heard, sob, sobbing, like a bairn spent with fear, and nigh heartbroken; breaking off into a moan and then rising again in a long whimpering wailing that made him feel sick to hark to it.

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**Who acts:** pitifullest greetings, long whimpering wailing, lad · **What happens:** come, hear, sob, spend, break off, rise · **To what, where:** sob, bairn, moan, long whimpering wailing, lad, wailing

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (pitifullest greetings, long whimpering wailing, lad), 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:pg14241:17:42
# text = And all at once there came a bit ahead of him the pitifullest greetings ever he heard, sob, sobbing, like a bairn spent with fear, and nigh heartbroken; breaking off into a moan and then rising again in a long whimpering wailing that made him feel sick to hark to it.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	all	all	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	obl	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	_
9	ahead	ahead	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	pitifullest	pitiful	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	14	amod	_	_
14	greetings	greeting	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
15	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	17	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	sob	sob	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	sobbing	sob	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	like	like	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	bairn	bairn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
26	spent	spend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	25	acl	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	nigh	nigh	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	heartbroken	heartbroken	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
34	breaking	break	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
35	off	off	ADP	RP	_	34	compound:prt	_	_
36	into	into	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	moan	moan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	41	advmod	_	_
41	rising	rise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	34	conj	_	_
42	again	again	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
45	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
46	whimpering	whimpering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	compound	_	_
47	wailing	wailing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
48	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	49	nsubj	_	_
49	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	acl:relcl	_	_
50	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obj	_	_
51	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	xcomp	_	_
52	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	xcomp	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	54	mark	_	_
54	hark	hark	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	xcomp	_	_
55	to	to	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past |  |  |  | there |  | of lad; ahead, all *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme of he=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **hear** | past | the pitifullest greetings | sob |  |  | ever |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sob=Stimulus |
| 3 | **sob** | gerund | the pitifullest greetings *not said here* |  |  |  |  | like a bairn | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **spend** | participle |  | a bairn *not said here* |  |  |  | with fear | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **break off** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | into a moan *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Patient into moan=Result |
| 6 | **rise** | gerund |  |  |  | a long whimpering wailing | then; again |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in wailing=Location |
| 7 | **make** | past | a long whimpering wailing | lad |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **feel** | infinitive | lad *not said here* |  |  |  |  | sick *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 9 | **hark** | to-infinitive | lad *not said here* |  | wailing |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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