---
title: Now the old king happened just then to have nothing else to do; so h… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Now the old king happened just then to have nothing else to do; so he amused himself by sitting at his kitchen window, looking at what was going on; and he saw her in the courtyard. Who acts: old king, king. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Goose-girl, with its dependency tree
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Goose-girl, sentence 28

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Now the old king happened just then to have nothing else to do; so he amused himself by sitting at his kitchen window, looking at what was going on; and he saw her in the courtyard.

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**Who acts:** old king, king · **What happens:** happen, have, do, amuse, sit, look · **To what, where:** nothing, king, kitchen window, maid, courtyard

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Goose-girl. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old king, king), 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:pg2591:15:28
# text = Now the old king happened just then to have nothing else to do; so he amused himself by sitting at his kitchen window, looking at what was going on; and he saw her in the courtyard.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	just	just	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	9	advmod	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
10	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	9	obj	_	_
11	else	else	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	amused	amuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
18	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	17	obj	_	_
19	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
20	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	advcl	_	_
21	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
23	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	compound	_	_
24	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	looking	look	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	conj	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	26	obl	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	acl:relcl	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	RP	_	30	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
36	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	courtyard	courtyard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | the old king |  |  |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | to-infinitive | the old king *not said here* | nothing |  |  | then |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Patient |
| 3 | **do** | to-infinitive | the old king *not said here* | nothing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **amuse** | past | king | king |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus himself=Experiencer |
| 5 | **sit** | gerund | king *not said here* |  |  | king's kitchen window |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at window=Location |
| 6 | **look** | gerund | king *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at what=Theme |
| 7 | **go on** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **see** | past | king | maid |  | the courtyard |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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