---
title: But Jack looked ahead and there was a long road before them, and he… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But Jack looked ahead and there was a long road before them, and he said, "I don't see, father, how I could break a bit off." Who acts: Jack, long road. 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 c
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 6, sentence 49

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But Jack looked ahead and there was a long road before them, and he said, "I don't see, father, how I could break a bit off."

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**Who acts:** Jack, long road · **What happens:** look, be, say, not see, break off · **To what, where:** father, bit · **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 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Jack, long road), 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:pg14241:20:49
# text = But Jack looked ahead and there was a long road before them, and he said, "I don't see, father, how I could break a bit off."
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Jack	Jack	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	ahead	ahead	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	7	expl	_	_
7	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
11	before	before	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	off	off	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | past | Jack |  |  |  |  | ahead *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **be** | past | a long road |  |  | there | before others *= other* |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before they=Location |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Jack |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **see** *in a quote* | present · do-support | Jack | father |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer father=Stimulus |
| 5 | **break off** *in a quote* | could | Jack | a bit |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bit=Patient |

<!-- .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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