---
title: Many tried to destroy the Worm, but all had failed, and many a knigh… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Many tried to destroy the Worm, but all had failed, and many a knight had lost his life in fighting with the monster, which slowly crushed the life out of all that came near it. Who acts: Many. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 18, with its dep
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/32/120/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/32/) / 120

# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 18, sentence 120

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Many tried to destroy the Worm, but all had failed, and many a knight had lost his life in fighting with the monster, which slowly crushed the life out of all that came near it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Many · **What happens:** try, destroy, fail, lose, fight, crush · **To what, where:** Worm, all, many knight, monster

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Many), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg14241:32:120
# text = Many tried to destroy the Worm, but all had failed, and many a knight had lost his life in fighting with the monster, which slowly crushed the life out of all that came near it.
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Worm	worm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	failed	fail	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	conj	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
22	fighting	fight	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	monster	monster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	29	obj	_	_
28	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	crushed	crush	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	acl:relcl	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	out	out	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	29	obl	_	_
35	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	36	nsubj	_	_
36	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	acl:relcl	_	_
37	near	near	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | Many |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **destroy** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Many *not said here* | the Worm |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent worm=Patient |
| 3 | **fail** | past · perfect · passive |  | all |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 4 | **lose** | past · perfect · passive |  | a many knight |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **fight** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with the monster | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with monster=Co-Agent |
| 6 | **crush** | past |  | the monster |  | all |  | slowly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Stimulus which=Experiencer life=Result |
| 7 | **come** | past |  |  |  |  |  | near Worm | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme near it=Location |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 119](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/32/119/)
- next →: [sentence 121](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/32/121/)
- ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/32/)