---
title: I am again asked to be godmother, and, as the child has a white ring… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: I am again asked to be godmother, and, as the child has a white ring round its neck, I cannot refuse.’ Who acts: I, child. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Cat and Mouse in Partnership, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, Cat and Mouse in Partnership, sentence 21

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I am again asked to be godmother, and, as the child has a white ring round its neck, I cannot refuse.’

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**Who acts:** I, child · **What happens:** ask, be, have, not refuse · **To what, where:** I, godmother, white ring · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Cat and Mouse in Partnership. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, child), 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:pg2591:14:21
# text = I am again asked to be godmother, and, as the child has a white ring round its neck, I cannot refuse.’
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
3	again	again	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
7	godmother	godmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
18	round	round	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	_
25	refuse	refuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	25	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present · passive |  | I |  |  | again |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is a** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | godmother |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | present | the child | a white ring |  |  |  | round child's neck | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ring=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **refuse** | can | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: 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:** «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 2591 (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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