---
title: Ay, now, that's a change for the better; it'll be far less trouble t… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Ay, now, that's a change for the better; it'll be far less trouble to look after, and none so easy stolen; yon gold pieces would have been a sight of bother to keep 'em safe. Who acts: that, treasure, yon gold pieces. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tale
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 5, sentence 113

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Ay, now, that's a change for the better; it'll be far less trouble to look after, and none so easy stolen; yon gold pieces would have been a sight of bother to keep 'em safe.

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**Who acts:** that, treasure, yon gold pieces · **What happens:** be, look after, steal, keep · **To what, where:** change, less trouble, sight, 'em

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (that, treasure, yon gold pieces), 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:pg14241:19:113
# text = Ay, now, that's a change for the better; it'll be far less trouble to look after, and none so easy stolen; yon gold pieces would have been a sight of bother to keep 'em safe.
1	Ay	ay	INTJ	UH	_	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	'll	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	cop	_	_
16	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	_
17	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	18	amod	_	_
18	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	acl	_	_
21	after	after	ADP	IN	_	20	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	8	conj	_	_
25	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
27	stolen	steal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	36	punct	_	_
29	yon	yon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
30	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
31	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
33	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	aux	_	_
34	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	36	cop	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	bother	bother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	acl	_	_
41	'em	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	_
42	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | that | a change and a sight |  |  | now | for the better | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | future | treasure | less trouble |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **look after** | to-infinitive | that *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **steal** | participle | that *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is a** | would · perfect | yon gold pieces | a sight |  |  |  | of bother | tree rules |
| 6 | **keep** | to-infinitive | that *not said here* | 'em *= they* |  |  |  | safe *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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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