---
title: He bargained with two ruffians strong, Which were of furious mood, T… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He bargained with two ruffians strong, Which were of furious mood, That they should take these children young, And slay them in a wood. Who acts: God, two ruffians, That. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 11, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 11, sentence 48

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He bargained with two ruffians strong, Which were of furious mood, That they should take these children young, And slay them in a wood.

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**Who acts:** God, two ruffians, That · **What happens:** bargain, be, take, slay · **To what, where:** children, wood

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (God, two ruffians, That), 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:pg14241:25:48
# text = He bargained with two ruffians strong, Which were of furious mood, That they should take these children young, And slay them in a wood.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	bargained	bargain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	ruffians	ruffian	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	Which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	furious	furious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	mood	mood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	nsubj	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
18	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	19	det	_	_
19	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	slay	slay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bargain** | past | God |  |  |  |  | with two ruffians and furious mood | vn battle-36.4 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with ruffian=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | two ruffians and furious mood |  |  |  |  | of furious mood | tree rules |
| 3 | **take** | should | That | this children |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument child=Theme young=Destination |
| 4 | **slay** | infinitive | That *not said here* | Children *= child* |  | a wood |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

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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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