---
title: Mrs. M.'s mother told the tale as having happened to a person she ha… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Mrs. M.'s mother told the tale as having happened to a person she had known when young: she had herself seen the Hedley Kow twice, once as a donkey and once as a wisp of straw. " Who acts: mother. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, LIII. the Hedley Kow, with its dependency tr
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, LIII. the Hedley Kow, sentence 3

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Mrs. M.'s mother told the tale as having happened to a person she had known when young: she had herself seen the Hedley Kow twice, once as a donkey and once as a wisp of straw. "

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**Who acts:** mother · **What happens:** tell, have, happen, know, see · **To what, where:** tale, person, mother, Hedley Kow · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, LIII. the Hedley Kow. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother), 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:pg14241:44:3
# text = Mrs. M.'s mother told the tale as having happened to a person she had known when young: she had herself seen the Hedley Kow twice, once as a donkey and once as a wisp of straw. "
1	Mrs.	Mrs.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	_
2	M.	M.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	1	case	_	_
4	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	having	have	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
10	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	xcomp	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	acl:relcl	_	_
17	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
18	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
20	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
22	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	obj	_	_
23	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	xcomp	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	Hedley	Hedley	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	Kow	Kow	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	21	obl	_	_
30	as	as	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	29	conj	_	_
35	as	as	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	wisp	wisp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	straw	straw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
41	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Mrs.'s mother | the tale |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent tale=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | gerund | Mrs.'s mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **happen** | participle | Mrs.'s mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to a person | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **know** | past · perfect | mother | a person *not said here* |  |  |  | young *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer person=Stimulus |
| 5 | **have** | past | mother | mother |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **see** | participle | mother *not said here* | the Hedley Kow |  |  |  | twice *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer kow=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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