---
title: Some said she was a witch, but they said it in a whisper, lest she s… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Some said she was a witch, but they said it in a whisper, lest she should overhear and do them a mischief, and truly it was not a thing one could be sure of, for she was never known to hurt any one, which, if she were a witch, she would have been sure to do. Who acts: Some, woman, parts, Clay. A sen
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/22/3/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/22/) / 3

# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 8, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Some said she was a witch, but they said it in a whisper, lest she should overhear and do them a mischief, and truly it was not a thing one could be sure of, for she was never known to hurt any one, which, if she were a witch, she would have been sure to do.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Some, woman, parts, Clay, thing one, one · **What happens:** say, be, overhear, do, not be, not know · **To what, where:** witch, Clay, whisper, parts, thing one, woman · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Some, woman, parts, Clay), 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:pg14241:22:3
# text = Some said she was a witch, but they said it in a whisper, lest she should overhear and do them a mischief, and truly it was not a thing one could be sure of, for she was never known to hurt any one, which, if she were a witch, she would have been sure to do.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	whisper	whisper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	overhear	overhear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	parataxis	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	mischief	mischief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
27	truly	truly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	compound	_	_
33	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	cop	_	_
36	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
39	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
40	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
41	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux:pass	_	_
42	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	43	advmod	_	_
43	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	hurt	hurt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	xcomp	_	_
46	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	47	det	_	_
47	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
49	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	61	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
51	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
52	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
53	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	cop	_	_
54	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
57	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	61	nsubj	_	_
58	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	61	aux	_	_
59	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	61	aux	_	_
60	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	61	cop	_	_
61	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	conj	_	_
62	to	to	PART	TO	_	63	mark	_	_
63	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	61	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Some |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | woman | a witch |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | parts *= part* | Clay |  | a whisper |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent it=Theme in whisper=Manner |
| 4 | **overhear** | should | woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **do** | infinitive | woman *not said here* | parts *= part* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **is a** | past | Clay | a thing one |  |  |  | truly *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **is** | could | a thing one |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **not** **know** | past · passive |  | woman |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **hurt** | to-infinitive |  | any one |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer one=Patient |
| 10 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | woman | a witch |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **is** | would · perfect | any one |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 12 | **do** | to-infinitive | any one *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/22/2/)
- next →: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/22/4/)
- ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/22/)