---
title: At last it was so big that it filled a cart, and two oxen could hard… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: At last it was so big that it filled a cart, and two oxen could hardly draw it; and the gardener knew not what in the world to do with it, nor whether it would be a blessing or a curse to him. Who acts: seed, two oxen, gardener. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Turnip, with it
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Turnip, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At last it was so big that it filled a cart, and two oxen could hardly draw it; and the gardener knew not what in the world to do with it, nor whether it would be a blessing or a curse to him.

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**Who acts:** seed, two oxen, gardener · **What happens:** be, fill, draw, not know, do · **To what, where:** last, cart, seed, world, blessing, gardener

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Turnip. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (seed, two oxen, gardener), 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:pg2591:39:4
# text = At last it was so big that it filled a cart, and two oxen could hardly draw it; and the gardener knew not what in the world to do with it, nor whether it would be a blessing or a curse to him.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	obl	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	filled	fill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cart	cart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	oxen	ox	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	draw	draw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	gardener	gardener	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
26	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	24	ccomp	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
35	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	41	cc	_	_
36	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
38	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
39	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	cop	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	blessing	blessing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
42	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	curse	curse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	conj	_	_
45	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | seed |  |  | last |  | big *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **fill** | past | seed | a cart |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent cart=Patient |
| 3 | **draw** | could | two oxen | seed |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **know** | past | the gardener |  |  | the world |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **do** | to-infinitive | the gardener *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with seed | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is a** | would | seed | a blessing or a curse | gardener |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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