--- title: ‘It is a lucky thing,’ said he, ‘that they did not tear up the tree… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: ‘It is a lucky thing,’ said he, ‘that they did not tear up the tree on which I was sitting, or I should have had to sprint on to another like a squirrel; but we tailors are nimble.’ Who acts: tree, tailor, branches, I. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Valiant Little Tailor, wi --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/19/107/) [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/) / [Grimms' Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/) / [The Valiant Little Tailor](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/19/) / 107 # Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Valiant Little Tailor, sentence 107 ‘It is a lucky thing,’ said he, ‘that they did not tear up the tree on which I was sitting, or I should have had to sprint on to another like a squirrel; but we tailors are nimble.’ **Who acts:** tree, tailor, branches, I, we · **What happens:** be, say, not tear up, sit, have, sprint on · **To what, where:** lucky thing, tree, another · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Valiant Little Tailor. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tree, tailor, branches, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2591:19:107 # text = ‘It is a lucky thing,’ said he, ‘that they did not tear up the tree on which I was sitting, or I should have had to sprint on to another like a squirrel; but we tailors are nimble.’ 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 3 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 lucky lucky ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 8 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 6 punct _ _ 9 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 12 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 17 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 that that SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 14 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 15 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 16 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 17 advmod _ _ 17 tear tear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 conj _ _ 18 up up ADP RP _ 17 compound:prt _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ _ 21 on on ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 22 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 25 obl _ _ 23 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 24 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 25 sitting sit VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 20 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 27 or or CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 28 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 29 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 30 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 31 aux _ _ 31 had have VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 25 parataxis _ _ 32 to to PART TO _ 33 mark _ _ 33 sprint sprint VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 xcomp _ _ 34 on on ADP RP _ 33 compound:prt _ _ 35 to to ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 36 another another DET DT PronType=Ind 33 obl _ _ 37 like like ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 squirrel squirrel NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 40 ; ; PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 41 but but CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 42 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 43 tailors tailor NOUN NNS Number=Plur 42 nmod:unmarked _ _ 44 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 45 cop _ _ 45 nimble nimble ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 45 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 45 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | present | tree | a lucky thing | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | tailor | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **not** **tear up** | past · do-support | branches *= branch* | the tree | | | | | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location tree=Theme | | 4 | **sit** | past · progressive | I | | | the tree | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on which=Location | | 5 | **have** | should · perfect | I | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **sprint on** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | | | another | | | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to another=Destination | | 7 | **is** | present | we | | | | | nimble *property* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 106](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/19/106/) - next →: [sentence 108](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/19/108/) - ↑ back to [The Valiant Little Tailor](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/19/)