---
title: A merchant, who had three daughters, was once setting out upon a jou… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: A merchant, who had three daughters, was once setting out upon a journey; but before he went he asked each daughter what gift he should bring back for her. Who acts: merchant, gift. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Lily and the Lion, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, Lily and the Lion, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A merchant, who had three daughters, was once setting out upon a journey; but before he went he asked each daughter what gift he should bring back for her.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** merchant, gift · **What happens:** have, set out, go, ask, bring back · **To what, where:** three daughters, daughter · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Lily and the Lion. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (merchant, gift), 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:pg2591:44:1
# text = A merchant, who had three daughters, was once setting out upon a journey; but before he went he asked each daughter what gift he should bring back for her.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
6	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	daughters	daughter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	11	advmod	_	_
11	setting	set	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
12	out	out	ADP	RP	_	11	compound:prt	_	_
13	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	journey	journey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
23	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	det	_	_
24	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	iobj	_	_
25	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	29	obj	_	_
26	gift	gift	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	ccomp	_	_
30	back	back	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	for	for	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | a merchant | three daughters |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=Patient |
| 2 | **set out** | past · progressive | a merchant |  |  |  |  | upon a journey; once *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **go** | past | merchant |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | merchant |  | each daughter |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent daughter=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **bring back** | should | gift |  |  |  |  | for her *= she* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent what=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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