---
title: Then the prince thought to himself, ‘I cannot go home to my father w… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the prince thought to himself, ‘I cannot go home to my father without my brothers’; so he said, ‘My dear friend, cannot you tell me where my two brothers are, who set out in search of the Water of Life before me, and never came back?’ Who acts: prince, I, door, you. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Water of Life, sentence 42

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Then the prince thought to himself, ‘I cannot go home to my father without my brothers’; so he said, ‘My dear friend, cannot you tell me where my two brothers are, who set out in search of the Water of Life before me, and never came back?’

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**Who acts:** prince, I, door, you, two brothers · **What happens:** think, not go, say, not tell, be, set out · **To what, where:** door, me, search, Water · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Water of Life. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prince, I, door, you), 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:pg2591:49:42
# text = Then the prince thought to himself, ‘I cannot go home to my father without my brothers’; so he said, ‘My dear friend, cannot you tell me where my two brothers are, who set out in search of the Water of Life before me, and never came back?’
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
13	home	home	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	without	without	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
33	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	ccomp	_	_
35	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	iobj	_	_
36	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	40	advmod	_	_
37	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
38	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	39	nummod	_	_
39	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nsubj	_	_
40	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	43	nsubj	_	_
43	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	conj	_	_
44	out	out	ADP	RP	_	43	compound:prt	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	search	search	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	Water	Water	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	Life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	_
52	before	before	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
56	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	57	advmod	_	_
57	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
58	back	back	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	57	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	57	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the prince |  | door |  | then |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **go** | can | I |  |  |  |  | to my father; without my brothers; home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to father=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | door |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | can | you |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 5 | **does** | present | my two brothers |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **set out** | past |  |  |  | search of the Water of Life | before me |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **come back** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **search** |  |  | the Water of Life |  |  |  |  | nom search «act 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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