---
title: He was at his wits’ end to know how to earn an honest living, for tr… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was at his wits’ end to know how to earn an honest living, for try as he might ill-luck seemed to pursue him, and he lost one post after another, till at last all he could do was to carry sacks of corn to the mill for his wife, who scolded him well if he was slow about it, and grudged him his por
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 16, sentence 31

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was at his wits’ end to know how to earn an honest living, for try as he might ill-luck seemed to pursue him, and he lost one post after another, till at last all he could do was to carry sacks of corn to the mill for his wife, who scolded him well if he was slow about it, and grudged him his portion of food.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Master, all, wife · **What happens:** be, earn, seem, pursue, lose, do · **To what, where:** end, honest living, Master, one post · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Master, all, wife), 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:pg2435:16:31
# text = He was at his wits’ end to know how to earn an honest living, for try as he might ill-luck seemed to pursue him, and he lost one post after another, till at last all he could do was to carry sacks of corn to the mill for his wife, who scolded him well if he was slow about it, and grudged him his portion of food.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	wits	wit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	’	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	earn	earn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	honest	honest	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	living	living	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	try	try	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	parataxis	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
21	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
22	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	luck	luck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	pursue	pursue	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
33	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	34	nummod	_	_
34	post	post	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	after	after	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	till	till	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	at	at	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	conj	_	_
41	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	47	nsubj:outer	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
43	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
44	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	acl:relcl	_	_
45	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	cop	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	ccomp	_	_
48	sacks	sack	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obj	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	corn	corn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	_
51	to	to	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
54	for	for	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
58	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	59	nsubj	_	_
59	scolded	scold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	acl:relcl	_	_
60	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	obj	_	_
61	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	65	advmod	_	_
62	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	65	mark	_	_
63	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	65	nsubj	_	_
64	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	65	cop	_	_
65	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	advcl	_	_
66	about	about	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
67	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	65	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
69	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	70	cc	_	_
70	grudged	grudge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
71	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	70	obj	_	_
72	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	73	nmod:poss	_	_
73	portion	portion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	obj	_	_
74	of	of	ADP	IN	_	75	case	_	_
75	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
76	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Master |  |  |  | at Master's wits's end | know *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **earn** | to-infinitive |  | a honest living |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent living=Theme |
| 3 | **seem** | might | Master |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **pursue** | to-infinitive | Master *not said here* | Master |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 5 | **lose** | past | Master | one post |  |  | after another |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent post=Eventuality |
| 6 | **do** | could | Master |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** | past | all |  |  |  |  | to the mill; for Master's wife; carry *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **scold** | past | Master's wife | Master |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 9 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Master |  |  |  | about end | slow, well *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **grudge** | past | Master *not said here* | Master |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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