---
title: If thou slay the Worm, swear that thou wilt put to death the first t… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: If thou slay the Worm, swear that thou wilt put to death the first thing that meets thee as thou crossest again the threshold of Lambton Hall. Who acts: thou, you, first thing. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 18, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 18, sentence 136

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If thou slay the Worm, swear that thou wilt put to death the first thing that meets thee as thou crossest again the threshold of Lambton Hall.

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**Who acts:** thou, you, first thing · **What happens:** slay, swear, put, meet · **To what, where:** Worm, first thing, thee

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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 (thou, you, first thing), 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:pg14241:32:136
# text = If thou slay the Worm, swear that thou wilt put to death the first thing that meets thee as thou crossest again the threshold of Lambton Hall.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	3	nsubj	_	_
3	slay	slay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Worm	worm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
7	swear	swear	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	11	nsubj	_	_
10	wilt	will	AUX	MD	Style=Arch|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	16	amod	_	_
16	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
17	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
18	meets	meet	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
19	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	obj	_	_
20	as	as	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	thou	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	18	obl	_	_
22	crossest	cross	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	18	parataxis	_	_
23	again	again	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	threshold	threshold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	Lambton	Lambton	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	_
28	Hall	Hall	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slay** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | thou | the Worm |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent worm=Patient |
| 2 | **swear** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **put** | future | thou | the first thing |  |  |  | to death | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent thing=Goal |
| 4 | **meet** | present | the first thing | thee |  |  | again | as thou | tree rules |

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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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