---
title: Now, how could it have known that I was just _terrible_ wanting some… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Now, how could it have known that I was just _terrible_ wanting something to hold my door open with? Who acts: I, something. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/20/13/)

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 6, sentence 13

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Now, how could it have known that I was just \_terrible\_ wanting something to hold my door open with?

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**Who acts:** I, something · **What happens:** know, be, want, hold · **To what, where:** shoulder, something, door

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, something), 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:pg14241:20:13
# text = Now, how could it have known that I was just _terrible_ wanting something to hold my door open with?
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
3	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux	_	_
7	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	just	just	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
12	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	15	punct	_	_
15	wanting	want	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
16	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	15	obj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
19	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | could · perfect · passive |  | shoulder |  |  | now |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | terrible *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **want** | gerund | I *not said here* | something |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **hold** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | something *not said here* | my door |  |  |  | open *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent door=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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