--- title: A laird who chanced to be riding by, heard the exclamation, but coul… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: A laird who chanced to be riding by, heard the exclamation, but could not understand it; so he rode up and asked the gudewife what was the matter, on which she broke out again-- Who acts: laird, gudewife. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 17, w --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/31/29/) [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/) / 29 # More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 17, sentence 29 A laird who chanced to be riding by, heard the exclamation, but could not understand it; so he rode up and asked the gudewife what was the matter, on which she broke out again-- **Who acts:** laird, gudewife · **What happens:** chance, ride by, hear, not understand, ride up, ask · **To what, where:** exclamation, gudewife, matter · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (laird, gudewife), 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:pg14241:31:29 # text = A laird who chanced to be riding by, heard the exclamation, but could not understand it; so he rode up and asked the gudewife what was the matter, on which she broke out again-- 1 A a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 laird laird NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ _ 3 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 4 nsubj _ _ 4 chanced chance VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 acl:relcl _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 6 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 7 aux _ _ 7 riding ride VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 advcl _ _ 8 by by ADP IN _ 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 10 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 exclamation exclamation NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 14 but but CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 15 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 16 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 17 advmod _ _ 17 understand understand VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 10 parataxis _ _ 18 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 19 ; ; PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 20 so so ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 21 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 rode ride VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 parataxis _ _ 23 up up ADP RP _ 22 compound:prt _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 25 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 conj _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 gudewife gudewife NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ _ 28 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 31 nsubj _ _ 29 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 cop _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 matter matter NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 33 on on ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 36 obl _ _ 35 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 36 broke break VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 conj _ _ 37 out out ADP RP _ 36 compound:prt _ _ 38 again again ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 39 -- -- PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **chance** | past | a laird | | | | | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **ride by** | to-infinitive · progressive | a laird *not said here* | | | | | | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **hear** | past | a laird | the exclamation | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer exclamation=Stimulus | | 4 | **not** **understand** | could | | exclamation | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | | 5 | **ride up** | past | laird | | | | | | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | laird *not said here* | the gudewife | | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent gudewife=Recipient | | 7 | **is a** | past | | the matter | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **break out** | past | gudewife | | | | again | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on which=Location | 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 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/31/28/) - next →: [sentence 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/31/30/) - ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/31/)