---
title: This had gone on for a long time, when one day the servant, who took… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: This had gone on for a long time, when one day the servant, who took away the dish, was overcome with such curiosity that he could not help carrying the dish into his room. Who acts: This, servant, king. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The White Snake, with its dependency tree an
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The White Snake, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
This had gone on for a long time, when one day the servant, who took away the dish, was overcome with such curiosity that he could not help carrying the dish into his room.

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**Who acts:** This, servant, king · **What happens:** go on, take away, overcome, not help, carry · **To what, where:** dish, servant, room

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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 (This, servant, king), 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:pg2591:34:5
# text = This had gone on for a long time, when one day the servant, who took away the dish, was overcome with such curiosity that he could not help carrying the dish into his room.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
11	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
17	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
18	away	away	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	dish	dish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	overcome	overcome	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
24	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	curiosity	curiosity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	advcl	_	_
32	carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	xcomp	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	dish	dish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	into	into	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go on** | past · perfect | This |  |  |  | time |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **take away** | past | the servant | the dish |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dish=Theme |
| 3 | **overcome** | past · passive |  | the servant |  |  | day | with such curiosity | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **help** | could | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **carry** *not said to happen* | gerund | king *not said here* | the dish |  | king's room |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent 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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