--- title: The girl saw her mother was in earnest, so she plied her distaff as… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: The girl saw her mother was in earnest, so she plied her distaff as well as she could; but her hands were all untaught, and by the evening of the second day only a very small part of her task was done. Who acts: girl, mother, task. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More Engl --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/31/2/) [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 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/31/) / 2 # More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 17, sentence 2 The girl saw her mother was in earnest, so she plied her distaff as well as she could; but her hands were all untaught, and by the evening of the second day only a very small part of her task was done. **Who acts:** girl, mother, task · **What happens:** see, be, ply, unteach, task · **To what, where:** distaff, hands This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (girl, mother, task), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg14241:31:2 # text = The girl saw her mother was in earnest, so she plied her distaff as well as she could; but her hands were all untaught, and by the evening of the second day only a very small part of her task was done. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 girl girl NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 5 nmod:poss _ _ 5 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 6 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 7 in in ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 earnest earn ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 3 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 so so ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 11 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 plied ply VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 13 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 14 distaff distaff NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ _ 15 as as ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 16 well well ADV RB Degree=Pos 12 advmod _ _ 17 as as SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 18 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 16 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 ; ; PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 21 but but CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 22 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 hands hand NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 nsubj:pass _ _ 24 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux:pass _ _ 25 all all ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 26 untaught unteach VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 29 by by ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 evening evening NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl:unmarked _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 34 second second ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 35 amod _ _ 35 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 nmod _ _ 36 only only ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 37 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 38 very very ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 39 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 part part NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 advcl _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 42 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 43 nmod:poss _ _ 43 task task NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nsubj _ _ 44 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 cop _ _ 45 done done ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | past | the girl | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **is** | past | girl's mother | | | | | earn *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **ply** | past | girl | girl's distaff | | | | well *property* | vn equip-13.4.2 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: agent=Agent distaff=Recipient | | 4 | **unteach** | past · passive | | girl's hands | | | evening | all *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **is** | past | girl's task | | | | | done *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **task** | | girl | | | | | | nom task «act transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/31/1/) - next →: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/31/3/) - ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/31/)