---
title: But she could tell you what your sickness was, and how to cure it wi… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But she could tell you what your sickness was, and how to cure it with herbs, and she could mix rare possets that would drive the pain out of you in a twinkling; and she could advise you what to do if your cows were ill, or if you'd got into trouble, and tell the maids whether their sweethearts were
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 8, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But she could tell you what your sickness was, and how to cure it with herbs, and she could mix rare possets that would drive the pain out of you in a twinkling; and she could advise you what to do if your cows were ill, or if you'd got into trouble, and tell the maids whether their sweethearts were likely to be faithful.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** woman, rare possets, you, cows, sweethearts · **What happens:** tell, cure, mix, drive, advise, do · **To what, where:** you, sickness, rare possets, pain, twinkling, trouble · **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 (woman, rare possets, you, cows), 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:pg14241:22:4
# text = But she could tell you what your sickness was, and how to cure it with herbs, and she could mix rare possets that would drive the pain out of you in a twinkling; and she could advise you what to do if your cows were ill, or if you'd got into trouble, and tell the maids whether their sweethearts were likely to be faithful.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	4	obj	_	_
7	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	sickness	sickness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	cure	cure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	herbs	herb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	mix	mix	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
23	rare	rare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	possets	posset	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
26	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	drive	drive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	acl:relcl	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	pain	pain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	out	out	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	twinkling	twinkling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
38	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
39	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	advise	advise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
41	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	_
42	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	44	obj	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	xcomp	_	_
45	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
46	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nsubj	_	_
48	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	cop	_	_
49	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
51	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
52	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
53	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	'd	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
55	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	49	conj	_	_
56	into	into	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
60	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	conj	_	_
61	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	62	det	_	_
62	maids	maid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obj	_	_
63	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	67	mark	_	_
64	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	65	nmod:poss	_	_
65	sweethearts	sweetheart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	67	nsubj	_	_
66	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	67	cop	_	_
67	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	ccomp	_	_
68	to	to	PART	TO	_	70	mark	_	_
69	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	70	cop	_	_
70	faithful	faithful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	67	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | could | woman |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient what=Topic |
| 2 | **cure** | to-infinitive | woman *not said here* | sickness |  |  |  | with herbs | vn free-10.6.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer it=Source |
| 3 | **mix** | could | woman | rare possets |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent posset=Patient |
| 4 | **drive** | would | rare possets | the pain |  | a twinkling |  | out you | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Agent pain=Theme out you=Destination in twinkling=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **advise** *speech: other* | could | woman | you |  |  |  |  | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP how S\_INF»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 7 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | your cows |  |  |  |  | ill *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **get** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | you |  |  | trouble |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into trouble=Destination |
| 9 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | woman *not said here* |  | the maids |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent maid=Recipient |
| 10 | **is** | past | cows's sweethearts |  |  |  |  | likely *property* | tree rules |
| 11 | **is** | to-infinitive | cows's sweethearts *not said here* |  |  |  |  | faithful *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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