---
title: So he picked out a fine head and ate of it; but scarcely had he swal… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So he picked out a fine head and ate of it; but scarcely had he swallowed two bites when he felt himself quite changed, and saw with horror that he was turned into an ass. Who acts: cloud. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Salad, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Salad, sentence 41

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So he picked out a fine head and ate of it; but scarcely had he swallowed two bites when he felt himself quite changed, and saw with horror that he was turned into an ass.

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**Who acts:** cloud · **What happens:** pick out, eat, have, swallow, feel, change · **To what, where:** fine head, two bites, cloud, ass

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Salad. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cloud), 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:pg2591:56:41
# text = So he picked out a fine head and ate of it; but scarcely had he swallowed two bites when he felt himself quite changed, and saw with horror that he was turned into an ass.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	picked	pick	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	swallowed	swallow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	ccomp	_	_
18	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nummod	_	_
19	bites	bite	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
23	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	25	nsubj	_	_
24	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	changed	change	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	horror	horror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	advcl	_	_
35	into	into	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	ass	ass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pick out** | past | cloud | a fine head |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
| 2 | **eat** | past | cloud *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of head | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent of it=Source |
| 3 | **have** | past | cloud *not said here* |  |  |  |  | scarcely *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **swallow** | past | cloud | two bites |  |  |  |  | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bite=Patient |
| 5 | **feel** | past | cloud |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **change** | past | cloud |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **see** | past | cloud *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with horror | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **turn** | past · passive |  | cloud |  | a ass |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: subject=Theme into ass=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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