---
title: ‘I would rather you let that alone,’ said the man, ‘for I do not wil… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘I would rather you let that alone,’ said the man, ‘for I do not willingly give myself up to be eaten; if you are wanting food I have enough to satisfy your hunger.’ Who acts: I, you, your. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Raven, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Raven, sentence 54

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‘I would rather you let that alone,’ said the man, ‘for I do not willingly give myself up to be eaten; if you are wanting food I have enough to satisfy your hunger.’

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**Who acts:** I, you, your · **What happens:** let, say, not give up, eat, want, have · **To what, where:** man, myself, food, enough, hunger · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Raven. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, you, your), 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:pg2591:47:54
# text = ‘I would rather you let that alone,’ said the man, ‘for I do not willingly give myself up to be eaten; if you are wanting food I have enough to satisfy your hunger.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	let	let	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
18	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
20	willingly	willingly	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
22	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	iobj	_	_
23	up	up	ADP	RP	_	21	compound:prt	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
28	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	wanting	want	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	34	advcl	_	_
32	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
33	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
35	enough	enough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	obj	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	satisfy	satisfy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	advcl	_	_
38	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | would | I |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  | the man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **give up** | present · do-support | I |  | myself |  |  | willingly *property* | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent myself=Source |
| 4 | **eat** | to-infinitive · passive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V» |
| 5 | **want** *a condition, not said to happen* | present · progressive | you | food |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot food=Theme |
| 6 | **have** | present | I | enough |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent enough=Patient |
| 7 | **satisfy** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | your hunger |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus hunger=Experiencer |
| 8 | **hunger** |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom hunger «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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