---
title: The boy could not cook, and he was not old enough to wait on the tab… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: The boy could not cook, and he was not old enough to wait on the table; but he could wash the pans and kettles, and as he was smart and quick, he could help in many other ways. Who acts: boy. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Antonio Canova., with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, Antonio Canova., sentence 19

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The boy could not cook, and he was not old enough to wait on the table; but he could wash the pans and kettles, and as he was smart and quick, he could help in many other ways.

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**Who acts:** boy · **What happens:** not cook, not be, wait, wash, be, help · **To what, where:** table, pans, many other ways

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This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Antonio Canova.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy), 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:pg18442:54:19
# text = The boy could not cook, and he was not old enough to wait on the table; but he could wash the pans and kettles, and as he was smart and quick, he could help in many other ways.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	cook	cook	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	advcl	_	_
12	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	wash	wash	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	pans	pan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	kettles	kettle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
29	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
32	smart	smart	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	advcl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
38	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
41	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **cook** | could | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** | past | boy |  |  |  |  | enough, old *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **wait** | to-infinitive | boy *not said here* |  |  | the table |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on table=Location |
| 4 | **wash** | could | boy | the pans and kettles |  |  |  |  | vn floss-41.2.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pan=Patient |
| 5 | **is** | past | boy |  |  |  |  | smart *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** |  | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **help** | could | boy |  |  | many other ways |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |

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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:** «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 18442 (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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