--- title: It was in vain that the poor maiden said that it was only a silly bo… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: It was in vain that the poor maiden said that it was only a silly boast of her father, for that she could do no such thing as spin straw into gold: the chamber door was locked, and she was left alone. Who acts: heap, poor maiden, maiden. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Tom Thumb, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/25/112/) [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/) / [Tom Thumb](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/25/) / 112 # Grimms' Fairy Tales, Tom Thumb, sentence 112 It was in vain that the poor maiden said that it was only a silly boast of her father, for that she could do no such thing as spin straw into gold: the chamber door was locked, and she was left alone. **Who acts:** heap, poor maiden, maiden · **What happens:** be, say, do, lock, leave · **To what, where:** silly boast, such thing, gold, chamber door, maiden · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Tom Thumb. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (heap, poor maiden, maiden), 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:pg2591:25:112 # text = It was in vain that the poor maiden said that it was only a silly boast of her father, for that she could do no such thing as spin straw into gold: the chamber door was locked, and she was left alone. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 in in ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 4 vain vain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 that that SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 7 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 maiden maiden NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _ 9 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 advcl _ _ 10 that that SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 11 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 12 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 cop _ _ 13 only only ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 15 silly silly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 amod _ _ 16 boast boast NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 ccomp _ _ 17 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 19 nmod:poss _ _ 19 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 21 for for ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 22 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 25 obl _ _ 23 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 24 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 25 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 conj _ _ 26 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 28 det _ _ 27 such such ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 28 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ _ 29 as as ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 spin spin NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 compound _ _ 31 straw straw NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ _ 32 into into ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 gold gold NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 : : PUNCT : _ 39 punct _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 36 chamber chamber NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 compound _ _ 37 door door NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nsubj:pass _ _ 38 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 aux:pass _ _ 39 locked lock VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 42 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 nsubj _ _ 43 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 44 aux:pass _ _ 44 left leave VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 39 conj _ _ 45 alone alone ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | heap | | | | | vain *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the poor maiden | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **is a** | past | heap | a silly boast | | | | of maiden's father | tree rules | | 4 | **do** | could | maiden | no such thing | | gold | | for that; as spin straw | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality | | 5 | **lock** | past · passive | | the chamber door | | | | | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 6 | **leave** | past · passive | | maiden | | | | alone *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | 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 111](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/25/111/) - next →: [sentence 113](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/25/113/) - ↑ back to [Tom Thumb](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/25/)