---
title: But the dwarf held them back, and said, ‘Let the pretty insects enjo… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But the dwarf held them back, and said, ‘Let the pretty insects enjoy themselves, I cannot let you burn them.’ Who acts: dwarf, pretty insects, I, you. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Queen Bee, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Queen Bee, sentence 10

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the dwarf held them back, and said, ‘Let the pretty insects enjoy themselves, I cannot let you burn them.’

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**Who acts:** dwarf, pretty insects, I, you · **What happens:** hold back, say, let, enjoy, not let, burn · **To what, where:** things, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Queen Bee. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dwarf, pretty insects, I, you), 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:pg2591:36:10
# text = But the dwarf held them back, and said, ‘Let the pretty insects enjoy themselves, I cannot let you burn them.’
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	dwarf	dwarf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	back	back	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	Let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	pretty	pretty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	insects	insect	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	enjoy	enjoy	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
17	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	burn	burn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold back** | past | the dwarf | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the dwarf *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **let** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **enjoy** | present | the pretty insects | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer themselves=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **let** | can | I | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **burn** | infinitive | you *not said here* | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent they=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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