---
title: Whilst he was sitting there, he thought of his dearest mother, and w… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Whilst he was sitting there, he thought of his dearest mother, and wished that one of the king’s principal servants would begin to speak of her, and would ask how it was faring with the queen in the tower, and if she were alive still, or had perished. Who acts: king, principal servants, majesty, mot
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Pink, sentence 48

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Whilst he was sitting there, he thought of his dearest mother, and wished that one of the king’s principal servants would begin to speak of her, and would ask how it was faring with the queen in the tower, and if she were alive still, or had perished.

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**Who acts:** king, principal servants, majesty, mother · **What happens:** sit, think, wish, begin, speak, ask · **To what, where:** tower · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Pink. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, principal servants, majesty, mother), 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:pg2591:31:48
# text = Whilst he was sitting there, he thought of his dearest mother, and wished that one of the king’s principal servants would begin to speak of her, and would ask how it was faring with the queen in the tower, and if she were alive still, or had perished.
1	Whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
5	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
11	dearest	dear	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	12	amod	_	_
12	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
17	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nummod	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’s	's	PART	POS	_	20	case	_	_
22	principal	principal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
34	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	37	advmod	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	faring	fare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	advcl	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	tower	tower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
46	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
47	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
48	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	cop	_	_
49	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	parataxis	_	_
50	still	still	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
52	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
53	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	perished	perish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past · progressive | king |  |  | there |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | king |  |  |  |  | of king's dearest mother | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **wish** | past | king *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **begin** | would | the one king's principal servants |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **speak** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the one king's principal servants *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of mother | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | would | the one king's principal servants *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **fare** | past · progressive | majesty |  |  | the tower |  | with the queen | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | mother |  |  |  | still | alive *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **perish** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

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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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