---
title: But the little tailor was much too weak to hold the tree, and when t… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But the little tailor was much too weak to hold the tree, and when the giant let it go, it sprang back again, and the tailor was tossed into the air with it. Who acts: little tailor, tree. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Valiant Little Tailor, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Valiant Little Tailor, sentence 49

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the little tailor was much too weak to hold the tree, and when the giant let it go, it sprang back again, and the tailor was tossed into the air with it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** little tailor, tree · **What happens:** be, hold, let, go, spring back, toss · **To what, where:** tree, tailor, air

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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 (little tailor, tree), 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:pg2591:19:49
# text = But the little tailor was much too weak to hold the tree, and when the giant let it go, it sprang back again, and the tailor was tossed into the air with it.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	tailor	tailor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	much	much	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	too	too	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	weak	weak	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	advcl	_	_
18	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
24	back	back	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	again	again	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	tailor	tailor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	tossed	toss	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	conj	_	_
32	into	into	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the little tailor |  |  |  |  | weak *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hold** | to-infinitive | the little tailor *not said here* | the tree |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Theme |
| 3 | **let** | infinitive |  | tree |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **go** | infinitive | tree *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **spring back** | past | tree |  |  |  | again |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **toss** | past · passive |  | the tailor |  | the air with tree |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: subject=Patient into air=Recipient |

<!-- .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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