---
title: Meantime the master looked to see that the table was properly laid,… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Meantime the master looked to see that the table was properly laid, and took the great knife, wherewith he was going to carve the chickens, and sharpened it on the steps. Who acts: you, master. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Clever Gretel, with its dependency tree and the pragma
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, Clever Gretel, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Meantime the master looked to see that the table was properly laid, and took the great knife, wherewith he was going to carve the chickens, and sharpened it on the steps.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, master · **What happens:** meantime, look, see, lay, take, go · **To what, where:** table, great knife, chickens, knife · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Clever Gretel. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, master), 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:pg2591:26:28
# text = Meantime the master looked to see that the table was properly laid, and took the great knife, wherewith he was going to carve the chickens, and sharpened it on the steps.
1	Meantime	meantime	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
11	properly	properly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	laid	lay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	1	parataxis	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	wherewith	wherewith	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	carve	carve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	chickens	chicken	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	sharpened	sharpen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	on	on	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	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 | **look** | past | the master |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive | the master *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **lay** | past · passive |  | the table |  |  |  | properly *property* | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Result |
| 5 | **take** | past |  | the great knife |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knife=Theme |
| 6 | **go** | past · progressive | master |  |  |  |  | wherewith *property* | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **carve** | to-infinitive | master *not said here* | the chickens |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chicken=Theme |
| 8 | **sharpen** | past |  | knife |  |  |  | on the steps | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

<!-- .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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