---
title: It happened once that the father was going to the fair, and asked hi… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It happened once that the father was going to the fair, and asked his wife’s daughters what he should bring them. Who acts: It, father. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Miser in the Bush, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Miser in the Bush, sentence 56

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It happened once that the father was going to the fair, and asked his wife’s daughters what he should bring them.

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**Who acts:** It, father · **What happens:** happen, go, ask, bring · **To what, where:** fair, daughters, sisters · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Miser in the Bush. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, father), 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:pg2591:33:56
# text = It happened once that the father was going to the fair, and asked his wife’s daughters what he should bring them.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happened	happen	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	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	fair	fair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	’s	's	PART	POS	_	16	case	_	_
18	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
19	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	22	obj	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
23	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | It |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **go** | past · progressive | the father |  |  | the fair |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to fair=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  | father's wife's daughters |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent daughter=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **bring** | should | father | sisters *= sister* |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument what=Theme they=Destination |

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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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