---
title: Still, his eyes were sharp and sparkling, and he soon showed himself… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Still, his eyes were sharp and sparkling, and he soon showed himself to be a clever little fellow, who always knew well what he was about. Who acts: eyes, wish, clever little fellow. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Tom Thumb, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, Tom Thumb, sentence 9

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Still, his eyes were sharp and sparkling, and he soon showed himself to be a clever little fellow, who always knew well what he was about.

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**Who acts:** eyes, wish, clever little fellow · **What happens:** be, sparkle, show, know · **To what, where:** wish, clever little fellow · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (eyes, wish, clever little fellow), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg2591:25:9
# text = Still, his eyes were sharp and sparkling, and he soon showed himself to be a clever little fellow, who always knew well what he was about.
1	Still	still	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	sparkling	sparkle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
13	showed	show	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
14	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	13	obj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	cop	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
18	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	fellow	fellow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
23	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	24	advmod	_	_
24	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
25	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	26	advmod	_	_
26	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	24	obj	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	acl:relcl	_	_
29	about	about	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | wish's eyes |  |  |  | still | sharp *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **sparkle** | gerund | wish's eyes *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **show** | past | wish | wish |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent himself=Recipient |
| 4 | **is a** | to-infinitive |  | a clever little fellow |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **know** | past | a clever little fellow | a clever little fellow |  |  |  | always *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer what=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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