--- title: If, when I am busy, I ask him to go and feed the poultry, he is cert… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: If, when I am busy, I ask him to go and feed the poultry, he is certain to give them some poisonous stuff instead of their proper food, and when I visit the yard next I find them all dead. Who acts: I, husband. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29, with --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/60/) [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/) / [The Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/) / 60 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29, sentence 60 If, when I am busy, I ask him to go and feed the poultry, he is certain to give them some poisonous stuff instead of their proper food, and when I visit the yard next I find them all dead. **Who acts:** I, husband · **What happens:** be, ask, go, feed, give, visit · **To what, where:** husband, poultry, poisonous stuff, stones, yard This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, husband), 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:pg3282:29:60 # text = If, when I am busy, I ask him to go and feed the poultry, he is certain to give them some poisonous stuff instead of their proper food, and when I visit the yard next I find them all dead. 1 If if SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 3 when when SCONJ WRB _ 6 mark _ _ 4 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 5 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 6 busy busy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 8 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 ask ask VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 10 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 obj _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 xcomp _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 14 feed feed VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 conj _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 poultry poultry NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 19 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 20 cop _ _ 20 certain certain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 21 to to PART TO _ 22 mark _ _ 22 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 20 xcomp _ _ 23 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 iobj _ _ 24 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 26 det _ _ 25 poisonous poisonous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 26 stuff stuff NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obj _ _ 27 instead instead ADV RB ExtPos=ADP 31 case _ _ 28 of of ADP IN _ 27 fixed _ _ 29 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 31 nmod:poss _ _ 30 proper proper ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 food food NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 34 when when SCONJ WRB _ 36 mark _ _ 35 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 36 visit visit VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 41 advcl _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 yard yard NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ _ 39 next next ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 40 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 41 find find VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 20 parataxis _ _ 42 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 obj _ _ 43 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 44 det _ _ 44 dead dead ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 20 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | I | | | | | busy *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | present | I | | husband | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **feed** | infinitive | I *not said here* | | the poultry | | | | vn feeding-39.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent poultry=Recipient | | 5 | **is** | present | husband | | | | | certain *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **give** | to-infinitive | husband *not said here* | some poisonous stuff | stones *= stone* | | | instead stones's proper food | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient stuff=Theme | | 7 | **visit** | present | I | the yard | | | | next *property* | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yard=Co-Agent | | 8 | **find** | present | I | stones *= stone* | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent they=Theme dead=Attribute | 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:** «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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 59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/59/) - next →: [sentence 61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/61/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/)