---
title: But he did not know what to do at first to gain fame and fortune, so… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But he did not know what to do at first to gain fame and fortune, so for a time he was fonder of basking idly in the sun than in plying the needle and scissors. Who acts: Johnny. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 7, with its dependency tree and
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 7, sentence 107

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But he did not know what to do at first to gain fame and fortune, so for a time he was fonder of basking idly in the sun than in plying the needle and scissors.

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**Who acts:** Johnny · **What happens:** not know, do, gain, be, bask, ply · **To what, where:** fame, sun, needle

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Johnny), 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:pg14241:21:107
# text = But he did not know what to do at first to gain fame and fortune, so for a time he was fonder of basking idly in the sun than in plying the needle and scissors.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	obl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	gain	gain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
13	fame	fame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	fortune	fortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	fonder	fond	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	conj	_	_
24	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
25	basking	bask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
26	idly	idly	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
30	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
31	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
32	plying	ply	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	needle	needle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	scissors	scissors	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | Johnny |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | Johnny *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **gain** | to-infinitive | Johnny *not said here* | fame and fortune |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fame=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | Johnny |  |  |  | time | fond *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **bask** | gerund | Johnny *not said here* |  |  | the sun |  | idly *property* | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **ply** | gerund | Johnny *not said here* | the needle and scissors |  |  |  |  | vn equip-13.4.2 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: agent=Agent needle=Recipient |

<!-- .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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