---
title: But one thing is certain, they were rich enough to keep a servant; f… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But one thing is certain, they were rich enough to keep a servant; for though they lived very happily together, and did not scratch nor fight more than human beings would have done, they were not clever enough to do the housework themselves, and preferred at all events to have some one to cook their
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/36/7/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/36/) / 7

# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 36, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But one thing is certain, they were rich enough to keep a servant; for though they lived very happily together, and did not scratch nor fight more than human beings would have done, they were not clever enough to do the housework themselves, and preferred at all events to have some one to cook their meat, which they would have scorned to eat raw.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** one thing, things, beings · **What happens:** be, keep, live, not scratch, fight, do · **To what, where:** servant, more, human beings, housework, events, one

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one thing, things, beings), 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:pg2435:36:7
# text = But one thing is certain, they were rich enough to keep a servant; for though they lived very happily together, and did not scratch nor fight more than human beings would have done, they were not clever enough to do the housework themselves, and preferred at all events to have some one to cook their meat, which they would have scorned to eat raw.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
10	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
20	very	very	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	happily	happily	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
22	together	together	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	scratch	scratch	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
28	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	29	cc	_	_
29	fight	fight	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
30	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	29	obj	_	_
31	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
32	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	beings	being	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
34	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	aux	_	_
36	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
39	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
40	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	41	advmod	_	_
41	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	conj	_	_
42	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	xcomp	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	housework	housework	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
47	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	44	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	preferred	prefer	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	conj	_	_
51	at	at	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	53	det	_	_
53	events	event	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obl	_	_
54	to	to	PART	TO	_	55	mark	_	_
55	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	advcl	_	_
56	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	57	det	_	_
57	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obj	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	59	mark	_	_
59	cook	cook	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	acl	_	_
60	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	61	nmod:poss	_	_
61	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
63	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	67	nsubj:pass	_	_
64	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	67	nsubj	_	_
65	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	67	aux	_	_
66	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	67	aux	_	_
67	scorned	scorn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	61	acl:relcl	_	_
68	to	to	PART	TO	_	69	mark	_	_
69	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	67	advcl	_	_
70	raw	raw	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	69	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | one thing |  |  |  |  | certain *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | enough, rich *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **keep** | to-infinitive | things *= thing* *not said here* | a servant |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent servant=Theme |
| 4 | **live** | past | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | happily, together *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **scratch** | past · do-support |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **fight** | infinitive |  | more |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent more=Co-Agent |
| 7 | **do** | would · perfect · passive |  | human beings |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 8 | **not** **is** | past | beings *= being* |  |  |  |  | clever, enough *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **do** | to-infinitive | beings *= being* *not said here* | the housework |  |  |  | beings *= being* *obl:unmarked* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent housework=Eventuality |
| 10 | **prefer** | participle |  |  |  | all events |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 11 | **have** | to-infinitive |  | some one |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Patient |
| 12 | **cook** | to-infinitive |  | beings's meat |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent meat=Patient |
| 13 | **scorn** | would · perfect · passive |  | beings's meat |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 14 | **eat** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | raw *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/36/6/)
- next →: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/36/8/)
- ↑ back to [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/36/)