--- title: Now no sooner had he started than she said: "By virtue of my three f… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Now no sooner had he started than she said: "By virtue of my three feathers may there be slashing and spilling, and James not be able to pour the brandy straight nor yet to take his hand from it until morning." Who acts: footman, coachman, virtue, James. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by J --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/18/52/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [More English Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/) / [More English Fairy Tales, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/18/) / 52 # More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 4, sentence 52 Now no sooner had he started than she said: "By virtue of my three feathers may there be slashing and spilling, and James not be able to pour the brandy straight nor yet to take his hand from it until morning." **Who acts:** footman, coachman, virtue, James · **What happens:** have, start, say, slash, spill, not be · **To what, where:** brandy, hand · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (footman, coachman, virtue, James), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg14241:18:52 # text = Now no sooner had he started than she said: "By virtue of my three feathers may there be slashing and spilling, and James not be able to pour the brandy straight nor yet to take his hand from it until morning." 1 Now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 4 advmod _ _ 2 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 3 det _ _ 3 sooner soon ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 4 advmod _ _ 4 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 started start VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 ccomp _ _ 7 than than SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 8 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 : : PUNCT : _ 13 punct _ _ 11 " " PUNCT `` _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 By by ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 13 virtue virtue NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nsubj _ _ 14 of of ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 15 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 17 nmod:poss _ _ 16 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 17 nummod _ _ 17 feathers feather NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 nmod _ _ 18 may may AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 19 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 21 advmod _ _ 20 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 21 aux _ _ 21 slashing slash VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 9 ccomp _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 23 spilling spill VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 21 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 26 James James PROPN NNP Number=Sing 29 nsubj _ _ 27 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 29 advmod _ _ 28 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 29 cop _ _ 29 able able ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 ccomp _ _ 30 to to PART TO _ 31 mark _ _ 31 pour pour VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 29 xcomp _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 brandy brandy NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ _ 34 straight straight ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 35 nor nor CCONJ CC Polarity=Neg 36 cc _ _ 36 yet yet ADV RB _ 34 conj _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 advcl _ _ 39 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 40 nmod:poss _ _ 40 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obj _ _ 41 from from ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 obl _ _ 43 until until ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 44 morning morning NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 46 " " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** | past | | | | | now | soon *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **start** | past | footman | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | coachman | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **slash** *in a quote* | may · progressive | virtue of my three feathers | | | there | | | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient | | 5 | **spill** *in a quote* | gerund | virtue of my three feathers *not said here* | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | infinitive | James | | | | | able *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **pour** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | James *not said here* | the brandy | | | | straight *property* | vn preparing-26.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brandy=Patient | | 8 | **take** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | James *not said here* | footman's hand | | brandy | morning | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent hand=Theme from it=Initial\_Location | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/18/51/) - next →: [sentence 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/18/53/) - ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/18/)