---
title: He was gey, and mis-liking to meddle with the thing, but he couldn't… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He was gey, and mis-liking to meddle with the thing, but he couldn't stand the whimpering babby, and he tore like mad at the stone, till he felt it lifting from the mools, and all at once it came with a sough out o' the damp earth and the tangled grass and growing things. Who acts: tired, all. A sen
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 3, sentence 54

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He was gey, and mis-liking to meddle with the thing, but he couldn't stand the whimpering babby, and he tore like mad at the stone, till he felt it lifting from the mools, and all at once it came with a sough out o' the damp earth and the tangled grass and growing things.

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**Who acts:** tired, all · **What happens:** be, like, meddle, not stand, tore, feel · **To what, where:** whimpering babby, babby, mools, things

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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 (tired, all), 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:pg14241:17:54
# text = He was gey, and mis-liking to meddle with the thing, but he couldn't stand the whimpering babby, and he tore like mad at the stone, till he felt it lifting from the mools, and all at once it came with a sough out o' the damp earth and the tangled grass and growing things.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	gey	gey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	mis	mis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	liking	like	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	meddle	meddle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	whimpering	whimpering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	babby	babby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	tore	tore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	parataxis	_	_
27	like	like	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	mad	mad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	appos	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	lifting	lift	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	35	advcl	_	_
38	from	from	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	mools	mool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
43	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	47	nsubj	_	_
44	at	at	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	once	once	SCONJ	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nmod	_	_
47	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
48	with	with	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	sough	sough	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
51	out	out	ADP	RP	_	47	compound:prt	_	_
52	o	of	ADP	IN	Abbr=Yes	56	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	56	punct	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
55	damp	damp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
59	tangled	tangled	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	conj	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
62	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	56	conj	_	_
63	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	62	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | tired |  |  |  |  | gey *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **like** | gerund | tired *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **meddle** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | tired *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the thing | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **stand** | could | tired | the whimpering babby |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer babby=Stimulus |
| 5 | **tore** |  | tired |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **feel** | past | tired | babby |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 7 | **lift** | gerund | tired *not said here* |  |  | the mools |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent from mool=Destination |
| 8 | **come out** | past | all |  |  |  |  | with a sough; of the damp earth and the tangled grass | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient |
| 9 | **grow** | gerund | all *not said here* | things |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location thing=Theme |

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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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