---
title: He was undecided, and knew not if he were worthy of this, but the do… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He was undecided, and knew not if he were worthy of this, but the doves counselled him to do it, and at length he said yes. Who acts: Pope, doves. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Three Languages, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Three Languages, sentence 35

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He was undecided, and knew not if he were worthy of this, but the doves counselled him to do it, and at length he said yes.

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**Who acts:** Pope, doves · **What happens:** be, not know, counsell, do, say · **To what, where:** Pope, token, length · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Three Languages. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Pope, doves), 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:pg2591:41:35
# text = He was undecided, and knew not if he were worthy of this, but the doves counselled him to do it, and at length he said yes.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	undecided	undecided	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	worthy	worthy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	ccomp	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	doves	dove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
18	counselled	counsell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
29	yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Pope |  |  |  |  | undecided *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **know** | past | Pope *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Pope |  |  |  |  | of this; worthy *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **counsell** | past | the doves | Pope |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **do** | to-infinitive | the doves *not said here* | token |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Pope |  |  | length |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent yes=Topic |

<!-- .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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