---
title: Then he had to sing a mass, and did not know one word of it, but the… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he had to sing a mass, and did not know one word of it, but the two doves sat continually on his shoulders, and said it all in his ear. Who acts: Pope, two 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 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then he had to sing a mass, and did not know one word of it, but the two doves sat continually on his shoulders, and said it all in his ear.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Pope, two doves · **What happens:** have, sing, not know, sit, say, word · **To what, where:** mass, one word, shoulders, ear, word · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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, two 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:pg2591:41:37
# text = Then he had to sing a mass, and did not know one word of it, but the two doves sat continually on his shoulders, and said it all in his ear.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
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	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	sing	sing	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	mass	mass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
13	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	doves	dove	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
22	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
23	continually	continually	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	30	det	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Pope |  |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | Pope *not said here* | a mass |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location mass=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | Pope *not said here* | one word of word |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer word=Stimulus |
| 4 | **sit** | past | the two doves |  |  | Pope's shoulders |  | continually *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on shoulder=Location |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  | mass |  | Pope's ear |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent it=Theme in ear=Manner |
| 6 | **word** |  |  | word |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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