---
title: There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears d… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spilt the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth. Who acts: old man, eyes, knees, man. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy 
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Old Man and His Grandson, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spilt the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth.

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**Who acts:** old man, eyes, knees, man, broth · **What happens:** be, become, tremble, sit, hold, spilt · **To what, where:** dim ears, table, spoon, broth, mouth

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Old Man and His Grandson. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, eyes, knees, man), 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:pg2591:27:1
# text = There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spilt the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	acl:relcl	_	_
13	dim	dim	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	xcomp	_	_
17	dull	dull	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	hearing	hearing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
23	trembled	tremble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
26	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	advcl	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	parataxis	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	spoon	spoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	spilt	spilt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	broth	broth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obj	_	_
42	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
44	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
47	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
48	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	39	conj	_	_
49	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obj	_	_
50	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	_
51	out	out	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
52	of	of	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	54	nmod:poss	_	_
54	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a old man |  |  | there |  | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **become** | past · perfect | eyes | man's dim ears |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **tremble** | past | man's knees |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **sit** | past | man |  |  | table |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at table=Location |
| 5 | **hold** | could | man | the spoon |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spoon=Theme |
| 6 | **spilt** | past | man's knees *not said here* | the broth |  |  |  | upon the table cloth | tree rules |
| 7 | **let** | infinitive | man's knees *not said here* | broth |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **run** | infinitive | broth *not said here* |  |  | man's mouth |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme out mouth=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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