---
title: The merchant thought this was no great thing to ask; that it would m… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The merchant thought this was no great thing to ask; that it would most likely be his dog or his cat, or something of that sort, but forgot his little boy Heinel; so he agreed to the bargain, and signed and sealed the bond to do what was asked of him. Who acts: merchant, this, thing. A sentence of «
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The King of the Golden Mountain, sentence 10

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The merchant thought this was no great thing to ask; that it would most likely be his dog or his cat, or something of that sort, but forgot his little boy Heinel; so he agreed to the bargain, and signed and sealed the bond to do what was asked of him.

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**Who acts:** merchant, this, thing · **What happens:** think, be, ask, forget, agree, sign · **To what, where:** great thing, dog, little boy, bond · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The King of the Golden Mountain. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (merchant, this, thing), 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:pg2591:51:10
# text = The merchant thought this was no great thing to ask; that it would most likely be his dog or his cat, or something of that sort, but forgot his little boy Heinel; so he agreed to the bargain, and signed and sealed the bond to do what was asked of him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	merchant	merchant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
7	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
15	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	16	advmod	_	_
16	likely	likely	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	cop	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
20	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	22	appos	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	det	_	_
28	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	forgot	forget	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
33	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
35	Heinel	Heinel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	so	so	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	agreed	agree	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	bargain	bargain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	signed	sign	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	parataxis	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	sealed	seal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	conj	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	bond	bond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
51	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	acl	_	_
52	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	54	nsubj:pass	_	_
53	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	aux:pass	_	_
54	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	51	advcl	_	_
55	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
56	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the merchant |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | this | no great thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | the merchant *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is a** | would | thing | merchant's dog or merchant's cat |  |  |  | likely *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **forget** | past | the merchant *not said here* | merchant's little boy |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **agree** *speech: agree* | past | merchant |  |  |  |  | to the bargain | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **sign** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **seal** | past |  | the bond |  |  |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bond=Patient |
| 9 | **do** | to-infinitive |  | the bond *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | of merchant | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |

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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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