---
title: If his pockets were empty he borrowed of his neighbours, but he alwa… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If his pockets were empty he borrowed of his neighbours, but he always took good care to prevent his scolding wife from finding out that he had done so. Who acts: pockets, Master. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 16, with its dependency tree and the
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/16/29/)

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 16, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If his pockets were empty he borrowed of his neighbours, but he always took good care to prevent his scolding wife from finding out that he had done so.

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**Who acts:** pockets, Master · **What happens:** be, borrow, take, prevent, find out, do · **To what, where:** good care, scolding wife

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (pockets, Master), 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:pg2435:16:29
# text = If his pockets were empty he borrowed of his neighbours, but he always took good care to prevent his scolding wife from finding out that he had done so.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	pockets	pocket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	borrowed	borrow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	15	advmod	_	_
15	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
16	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	prevent	prevent	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
21	scolding	scolding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
23	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
24	finding	find	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	RP	_	24	compound:prt	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
30	so	so	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Master's pockets |  |  |  |  | empty *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **borrow** | past | Master |  |  |  |  | of Master's neighbours | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **take** | past | Master | good care |  |  |  | always *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent care=Theme |
| 4 | **prevent** | to-infinitive | Master *not said here* | Master's scolding wife |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer wife=Theme |
| 5 | **find out** | gerund | Master *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **do** | past · perfect | Master |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «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:** «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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