--- title: Scarcely, however, had he tasted the bitter sea-water when he became… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Scarcely, however, had he tasted the bitter sea-water when he became worse even than he was before; and then both the elder sons came in, and blamed the youngest for what they had done; and said that he wanted to poison their father, but that they had found the Water of Life, and had brought it with --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/49/53/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Grimms' Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/) / [The Water of Life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/49/) / 53 # Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Water of Life, sentence 53 Scarcely, however, had he tasted the bitter sea-water when he became worse even than he was before; and then both the elder sons came in, and blamed the youngest for what they had done; and said that he wanted to poison their father, but that they had found the Water of Life, and had brought it with them. **Who acts:** brother, elder sons, sons · **What happens:** have, taste, become, be, come in, blame · **To what, where:** bitter sea water, youngest, father, Water · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (brother, elder sons, sons), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2591:49:53 # text = Scarcely, however, had he tasted the bitter sea-water when he became worse even than he was before; and then both the elder sons came in, and blamed the youngest for what they had done; and said that he wanted to poison their father, but that they had found the Water of Life, and had brought it with them. 1 Scarcely scarcely ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _ 3 however however ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 5 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 7 tasted taste VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 ccomp _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 9 bitter bitter ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 10 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 11 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 10 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ _ 13 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 15 advmod _ _ 14 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 15 became become VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 advcl _ _ 16 worse badly ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 15 advmod _ _ 17 even even ADV RB _ 21 advmod _ _ 18 than than SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 20 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 cop _ _ 21 before before ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ; ; PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 24 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 28 advmod _ _ 25 both both CCONJ CC _ 28 cc:preconj _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 27 elder elder ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 28 sons son NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 nsubj _ _ 29 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 30 in in ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 blamed blame VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 conj _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 youngest young ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 33 obj _ _ 36 for for ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 37 what what PRON WP PronType=Rel 35 obl _ _ 38 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 39 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 40 done do VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 37 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 ; ; PUNCT : _ 43 punct _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 43 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 44 that that SCONJ IN _ 46 mark _ _ 45 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 nsubj _ _ 46 wanted want VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 ccomp _ _ 47 to to PART TO _ 48 mark _ _ 48 poison poison VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 46 xcomp _ _ 49 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 50 nmod:poss _ _ 50 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 51 , , PUNCT , _ 56 punct _ _ 52 but but CCONJ CC _ 56 cc _ _ 53 that that SCONJ IN _ 56 mark _ _ 54 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 56 nsubj _ _ 55 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 56 aux _ _ 56 found find VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 43 conj _ _ 57 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 58 det _ _ 58 Water Water PROPN NNP Number=Sing 56 obj _ _ 59 of of ADP IN _ 60 case _ _ 60 Life Life PROPN NNP Number=Sing 58 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 61 , , PUNCT , _ 64 punct _ _ 62 and and CCONJ CC _ 64 cc _ _ 63 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 64 aux _ _ 64 brought bring VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 43 conj _ _ 65 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 64 obj _ _ 66 with with ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 67 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 64 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 68 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** | past | | | | | | however *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **taste** | past | brother | the bitter sea water | | | | | vn seem-109 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Theme water=Attribute | | 3 | **become** | past | brother | | | | | badly *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | | 4 | **is** | past | brother | | | | | before *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **come in** | past | the elder sons | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **blame** | past | the elder sons *not said here* | the youngest | | | | | vn judgment-33.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent young=Theme | | 7 | **do** | past · perfect | sons *= son* | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 9 | **want** | past | brother | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 10 | **poison** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | brother *not said here* | sons's father | | | | | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Patient | | 11 | **find** | past · perfect | sons *= son* | the Water of Life | | | | | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent water=Topic | | 12 | **bring** | past · perfect | | Water | | | | with sons *= son* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent it=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/49/52/) - next →: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/49/54/) - ↑ back to [The Water of Life](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/49/)