--- title: Now, though it is said that fishes are dumb, he heard them lamenting… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Now, though it is said that fishes are dumb, he heard them lamenting that they must perish so miserably, and, as he had a kind heart, he got off his horse and put the three prisoners back into the water. Who acts: fishes, king. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The White Snake, wit --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/24/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Grimms' Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/) / [The White Snake](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/) / 24 # Grimms' Fairy Tales, The White Snake, sentence 24 Now, though it is said that fishes are dumb, he heard them lamenting that they must perish so miserably, and, as he had a kind heart, he got off his horse and put the three prisoners back into the water. **Who acts:** fishes, king · **What happens:** say, be, hear, lament, perish, have · **To what, where:** request, fishes, kind heart, horse, three prisoners, water · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The White Snake. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fishes, king), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2591:34:24 # text = Now, though it is said that fishes are dumb, he heard them lamenting that they must perish so miserably, and, as he had a kind heart, he got off his horse and put the three prisoners back into the water. 1 Now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 13 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _ 3 though though SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 4 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 5 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 aux:pass _ _ 6 said say VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 13 advcl _ _ 7 that that SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 8 fishes fish NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 nsubj _ _ 9 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 10 cop _ _ 10 dumb dumb ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 12 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 13 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 14 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 obj _ _ 15 lamenting lament VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 13 xcomp _ _ 16 that that SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 17 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 18 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 19 aux _ _ 19 perish perish VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 xcomp _ _ 20 so so ADV RB _ 21 advmod _ _ 21 miserably miserably ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 25 as as SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ _ 26 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 advcl _ _ 28 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 29 kind kind ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 30 heart heart NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 32 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 got get VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 parataxis _ _ 34 off off ADP RP _ 33 compound:prt _ _ 35 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 horse horse NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obj _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 38 put put VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 conj _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 40 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 41 nummod _ _ 41 prisoners prisoner NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 obj _ _ 42 back back ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 43 into into ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 13 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · passive | | request | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic | | 2 | **is** | present | fishes | | | | | dumb *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **hear** | past | king | fishes *= fish* | | | now | | tree rules | | 4 | **lament** | gerund | fishes *= fish* *not said here* | | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 5 | **perish** | must | fishes *= fish* | | | | | miserably *property* | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 6 | **have** | past | king | a kind heart | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heart=Patient | | 7 | **get off** | past | king | king's horse | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer horse=Stimulus | | 8 | **put** | infinitive | king *not said here* | the three prisoners | | the water | | | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent prisoner=Goal | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/23/) - next →: [sentence 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/25/) - ↑ back to [The White Snake](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/)