---
title: Unless thou canst answer me these questions three before a week is o… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Unless thou canst answer me these questions three before a week is out, thy head will leave thy body;" and he turned away. Who acts: Unless, head. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 14, sentence 39

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Unless thou canst answer me these questions three before a week is out, thy head will leave thy body;" and he turned away.

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**Who acts:** Unless, head · **What happens:** answer, be, leave, turn away · **To what, where:** questions, me, body · **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 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Unless, head), 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:pg14241:28:39
# text = Unless thou canst answer me these questions three before a week is out, thy head will leave thy body;" and he turned away.
1	Unless	unless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	nsubj	_	_
2	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	4	nsubj	_	_
3	canst	can	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	answer	answer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	questions	question	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	flat	_	_
9	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	week	week	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
12	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	out	out	ADV	RB	_	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
17	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
19	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
26	away	away	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | can | Unless | this questions | me |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent i=Theme question=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | present | Unless *not said here* |  |  |  | week | out *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **leave** | future | thy head | thy body |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent body=Theme |
| 4 | **turn away** *in a quote* | past | head |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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