---
title: A many came to her asking foolish things, as was their nature, and t… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: A many came to her asking foolish things, as was their nature, and to them she never gave counsel--at least of a kind that could aid them much. Who acts: many, woman, kind. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 8, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 8, sentence 6

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A many came to her asking foolish things, as was their nature, and to them she never gave counsel--at least of a kind that could aid them much.

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**Who acts:** many, woman, kind · **What happens:** come, ask, be, not give, aid · **To what, where:** asking foolish things, counsel, things

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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 (many, woman, kind), 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:pg14241:22:6
# text = A many came to her asking foolish things, as was their nature, and to them she never gave counsel--at least of a kind that could aid them much.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
6	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	amod	_	_
7	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
21	counsel	counsel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	27	nmod	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
28	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	aid	aid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	acl:relcl	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	much	much	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | a many |  |  | woman's asking foolish things |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to thing=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | as things's nature | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **give** | past | woman | counsel | things *= thing* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent counsel=Recipient kind=Theme |
| 5 | **aid** | could | a kind | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Beneficiary |

<!-- .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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