---
title: At least they tried to say so, but one grunted out "Nakasind," and a… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: At least they tried to say so, but one grunted out "Nakasind," and another "Owkasaänd," while a third murmured "O-a-a-send." Who acts: tone, one, third. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 17, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 17, sentence 48

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At least they tried to say so, but one grunted out "Nakasind," and another "Owkasaänd," while a third murmured "O-a-a-send."

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**Who acts:** tone, one, third · **What happens:** try, say, grunt out, murmur · **To what, where:** least, Nakasind, send · **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 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tone, one, third), 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:pg14241:31:48
# text = At least they tried to say so, but one grunted out "Nakasind," and another "Owkasaänd," while a third murmured "O-a-a-send."
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	4	obl	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nsubj	_	_
11	grunted	grunt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
12	out	out	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	Nakasind	Nakasind	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	det	_	_
19	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	Owkasaänd	Owkasaänd	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
23	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	third	third	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl:agent	_	_
26	murmured	murmur	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	acl	_	_
27	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	O	o	INTJ	UH	_	34	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	send	send	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | tone |  |  | least |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | tone *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **grunt out** | participle | one | Nakasind and another Owkasaänd |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent nakasind=Theme |
| 4 | **murmur** *speech: other* | participle | a third *not said here* | a send |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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