---
title: But he had a strange custom; every day after dinner, when the table… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But he had a strange custom; every day after dinner, when the table was cleared, and no one else was present, a trusty servant had to bring him one more dish. Who acts: news, one, trusty servant. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The White Snake, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The White Snake, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But he had a strange custom; every day after dinner, when the table was cleared, and no one else was present, a trusty servant had to bring him one more dish.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** news, one, trusty servant · **What happens:** have, clear, be, bring · **To what, where:** strange custom, table, one more dish, news

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (news, one, trusty servant), 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:pg2591:34:3
# text = But he had a strange custom; every day after dinner, when the table was cleared, and no one else was present, a trusty servant had to bring him one more dish.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	custom	custom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
8	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
9	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	after	after	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	cleared	clear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	21	det	_	_
21	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
22	else	else	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	trusty	trusty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	nummod	_	_
34	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	35	amod	_	_
35	dish	dish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | news | a strange custom |  |  | day |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent custom=Patient |
| 2 | **clear** | past · passive |  | the table |  |  |  |  | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V NP.source»: subject=Source |
| 3 | **is** | past | no one |  |  |  |  | present *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past | a trusty servant |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **bring** | to-infinitive | a trusty servant *not said here* | one more dish | news |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent he=Destination dish=Theme |

<!-- .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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