---
title: Meantime the thieves were frightened, and ran off a little way; but… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Meantime the thieves were frightened, and ran off a little way; but at last they plucked up their hearts, and said, ‘The little urchin is only trying to make fools of us.’ Who acts: you, money, little urchin. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Tom Thumb, with its dependency tree and
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, Tom Thumb, sentence 58

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Meantime the thieves were frightened, and ran off a little way; but at last they plucked up their hearts, and said, ‘The little urchin is only trying to make fools of us.’

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**Who acts:** you, money, little urchin · **What happens:** meantime, frighten, run off, pluck up, say, try · **To what, where:** thieves, little way, hearts, last, fools · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (you, money, little urchin), 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:pg2591:25:58
# text = Meantime the thieves were frightened, and ran off a little way; but at last they plucked up their hearts, and said, ‘The little urchin is only trying to make fools of us.’
1	Meantime	meantime	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	thieves	thief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
9	off	off	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	obl	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	plucked	pluck	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
19	up	up	ADP	RP	_	18	compound:prt	_	_
20	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	hearts	heart	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
26	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	urchin	urchin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
30	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	only	only	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	ccomp	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	fools	fool	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **meantime** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **frighten** | past · passive |  | the thieves |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 3 | **run off** | past |  | a little way |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **pluck up** | past | money | money's hearts |  | last |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent heart=Theme at last=Asset |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | money *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **try** | present · progressive | the little urchin |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **make** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the little urchin *not said here* | fools of us |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset fool=Product |

<!-- .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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