--- title: Because I am beginning to grow old, and had rather lie at my ease by… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Because I am beginning to grow old, and had rather lie at my ease by the fire than run about the house after the mice, my mistress laid hold of me, and was going to drown me; and though I have been lucky enough to get away from her, I do not know what I am to live upon.’ Who acts: I, mistress. A sen --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/5/12/) [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 Travelling Musicians](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/5/) / 12 # Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Travelling Musicians, sentence 12 Because I am beginning to grow old, and had rather lie at my ease by the fire than run about the house after the mice, my mistress laid hold of me, and was going to drown me; and though I have been lucky enough to get away from her, I do not know what I am to live upon.’ **Who acts:** I, mistress · **What happens:** begin, grow, lie, run, lay, go · **To what, where:** ease, hold, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Travelling Musicians. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, mistress), 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:pg2591:5:12 # text = Because I am beginning to grow old, and had rather lie at my ease by the fire than run about the house after the mice, my mistress laid hold of me, and was going to drown me; and though I have been lucky enough to get away from her, I do not know what I am to live upon.’ 1 Because because SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 beginning begin VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 12 advcl _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 6 mark _ _ 6 grow grow VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 xcomp _ _ 7 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 10 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 aux _ _ 11 rather rather ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 12 lie lie VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 13 at at ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 15 ease ease NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 16 by by ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 fire fire NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 19 than than SCONJ IN _ 20 mark _ _ 20 run run VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 advcl _ _ 21 about about ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ _ 24 after after ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 mice mouse NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 28 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 29 nmod:poss _ _ 29 mistress mistress NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nsubj _ _ 30 laid lay VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 conj _ _ 31 hold hold NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 31 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 36 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 37 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 30 advcl _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 drown drown VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 xcomp _ _ 40 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 39 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 ; ; PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 43 though though SCONJ IN _ 47 mark _ _ 44 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 47 nsubj _ _ 45 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 47 aux _ _ 46 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 47 cop _ _ 47 lucky lucky ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 parataxis _ _ 48 enough enough ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ _ 49 to to PART TO _ 50 mark _ _ 50 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 47 advcl _ _ 51 away away ADV RB _ 50 advmod _ _ 52 from from ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 53 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 50 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 54 , , PUNCT , _ 58 punct _ _ 55 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 58 nsubj _ _ 56 do do AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 58 aux _ _ 57 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 58 advmod _ _ 58 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 parataxis _ _ 59 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 58 ccomp _ _ 60 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 61 nsubj _ _ 61 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 59 cop _ _ 62 to to PART TO _ 63 mark _ _ 63 live live VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 61 xcomp _ _ 64 upon upon ADP IN _ 63 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 65 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 66 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **begin** | present · progressive | I | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **grow** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | | | | | old *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **lie** | past | | | | my ease | | by the fire | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at ease=Location | | 4 | **run** | infinitive | | | | | after the mice | about the house | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme about house=Trajectory | | 5 | **lay** | past | my mistress | hold of me | | | | | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Result | | 6 | **go** | past · progressive | my mistress *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 7 | **drown** | to-infinitive | my mistress *not said here* | me | | | | | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient | | 8 | **is** | present · perfect | I | | | | | enough, lucky *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **get away** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | | | | | from mistress; away *property* | vn withdraw-82-2 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent from she=Source | | 10 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | I | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 11 | **is a** | present | | | | | | | tree rules | | 12 | **live** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 13 | **hold** | | | me | | | | | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient | 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 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/5/11/) - next →: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/5/13/) - ↑ back to [The Travelling Musicians](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/5/)