--- title: The miller was sifting meal in the trough; but, looking up: "Ay," qu… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: The miller was sifting meal in the trough; but, looking up: "Ay," quoth he, "it's a sign of plenty when ye're running about, and nobody to look after ye. Who acts: miller, ye. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 7, with its dependency tree and th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/21/55/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [More English Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/) / [More English Fairy Tales, part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/21/) / 55 # More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 7, sentence 55 The miller was sifting meal in the trough; but, looking up: "Ay," quoth he, "it's a sign of plenty when ye're running about, and nobody to look after ye. **Who acts:** miller, ye · **What happens:** sift, be, look up, quoth, run about, look · **To what, where:** sifting meal, trough, man, sign · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (miller, ye), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg14241:21:55 # text = The miller was sifting meal in the trough; but, looking up: "Ay," quoth he, "it's a sign of plenty when ye're running about, and nobody to look after ye. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 miller miller NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 sifting sift VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 5 amod _ _ 5 meal meal NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 6 in in ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 trough trough NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 ; ; PUNCT : _ 12 punct _ _ 10 but but CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 12 looking look VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 conj _ _ 13 up up ADP RP _ 12 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 14 : : PUNCT : _ 19 punct _ _ 15 " " PUNCT `` _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 Ay ay INTJ UH _ 19 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 18 " " PUNCT `` _ 19 punct _ _ 19 quoth quoth VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 12 parataxis _ _ 20 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 22 " " PUNCT `` _ 26 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 23 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 's be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 26 cop _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 sign sign NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 parataxis _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 plenty plenty NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nmod _ _ 29 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 32 advmod _ _ 30 ye ye PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 32 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 're be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 32 running run VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 26 acl _ _ 33 about about ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 nobody nobody PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 5 conj _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 look look VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 acl _ _ 39 after after ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 ye ye PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sift** | gerund | | | | | | | vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient | | 2 | **is a** | past | the miller | sifting meal | | the trough | | | tree rules | | 3 | **look up** | gerund | the miller *not said here* | | | | | | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 4 | **quoth** | infinitive | | man | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | miller | a sign | | | | of plenty | tree rules | | 6 | **run about** *in a quote* | present · progressive | ye | | | | | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **look** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the miller *not said here* | | | | after ye | | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/21/54/) - next →: [sentence 56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/21/56/) - ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/21/)