---
title: So he sat down and told her how he'd tried to get a coat o' clay, an… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So he sat down and told her how he'd tried to get a coat o' clay, and he wasn't any wiser for all of it. Who acts: rt. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 8, sentence 103

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So he sat down and told her how he'd tried to get a coat o' clay, and he wasn't any wiser for all of it.

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**Who acts:** rt · **What happens:** sit down, tell, try, get, not be · **To what, where:** woman, coat · **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 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rt), 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:pg14241:22:103
# text = So he sat down and told her how he'd tried to get a coat o' clay, and he wasn't any wiser for all of it.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	down	down	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
7	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	iobj	_	_
8	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	'd	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	tried	try	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	ccomp	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	coat	coat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	o	of	ADP	IN	Abbr=Yes	18	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	_
18	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
24	any	any	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	wiser	wise	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	conj	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	25	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit down** | past | rt |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | rt *not said here* |  | woman |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **try** | past · perfect | rt |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **get** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | rt *not said here* | a coat |  |  |  | of clay | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer coat=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **is** | past | rt |  |  |  |  | for all; any, wise *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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