---
title: Try as he might James could not get his glass filled, and there was… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Try as he might James could not get his glass filled, and there was slashing and spilling, and right on it all, down came the master to know what it meant! Who acts: you, James, glass, master. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 4, with its depen
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 4, sentence 54

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Try as he might James could not get his glass filled, and there was slashing and spilling, and right on it all, down came the master to know what it meant!

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**Who acts:** you, James, glass, master · **What happens:** try, not get, fill, slash, spill, come · **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 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, James, glass, master), 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:pg14241:18:54
# text = Try as he might James could not get his glass filled, and there was slashing and spilling, and right on it all, down came the master to know what it meant!
1	Try	try	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
4	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
5	James	James	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	filled	fill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	16	expl	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	slashing	slash	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	parataxis	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	spilling	spill	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	parataxis	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	_
24	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	23	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	down	down	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	acl	_	_
32	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	34	obj	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	meant	mean	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **not** **get** | could | James |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **fill** | past | James's glass |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **slash** | past · progressive |  |  |  | there |  |  | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **spill** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **come** | past | the master |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **know** | to-infinitive | the master *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 8 | **mean** | past | master |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

<!-- .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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