--- title: His children wanted to eat all the fish themselves, and begged their… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: His children wanted to eat all the fish themselves, and begged their father to tell them what to do with the pieces he had put aside; but the cobbler only laughed, and told them it was no business of theirs. Who acts: children, cobbler, Fish. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Stor --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/37/79/) [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/) / [Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted,…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/37/) / 79 # The Brown Fairy Book, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 4, sentence 79 His children wanted to eat all the fish themselves, and begged their father to tell them what to do with the pieces he had put aside; but the cobbler only laughed, and told them it was no business of theirs. **Who acts:** children, cobbler, Fish · **What happens:** want, eat, beg, tell, do, put · **To what, where:** fish, father, children, pieces, business · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, cobbler, Fish), 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:pg3282:37:79 # text = His children wanted to eat all the fish themselves, and begged their father to tell them what to do with the pieces he had put aside; but the cobbler only laughed, and told them it was no business of theirs. 1 His his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 nsubj _ _ 3 wanted want VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 to to PART TO _ 5 mark _ _ 5 eat eat VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 xcomp _ _ 6 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 8 det:predet _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 fish fish NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 9 themselves themselves PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes 8 nmod:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 begged beg VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 13 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 14 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ _ 15 to to PART TO _ 16 mark _ _ 16 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 advcl _ _ 17 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 iobj _ _ 18 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 20 obj _ _ 19 to to PART TO _ 20 mark _ _ 20 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 ccomp _ _ 21 with with ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 pieces piece NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 obl _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 25 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 put put VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 23 acl:relcl _ _ 27 aside aside ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ; ; PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 29 but but CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 cobbler cobbler NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 nsubj _ _ 32 only only ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 33 laughed laugh VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 conj _ _ 37 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 iobj _ _ 38 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 39 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 cop _ _ 40 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 41 det _ _ 41 business business NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 ccomp _ _ 42 of of ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 theirs their PRON PRP Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **want** | past | cobbler's children | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 2 | **eat** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | cobbler's children *not said here* | all fish children | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=Patient | | 3 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | cobbler's children *not said here* | | children's father | | | | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent father=Recipient | | 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | cobbler's children *not said here* | | children *= child* | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | | 5 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | | | | | | with the pieces | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality | | 6 | **put** | past · perfect | cobbler | the pieces *not said here* | | | | aside *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent piece=Goal | | 7 | **laugh** | past | the cobbler | | | | | | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the cobbler *not said here* | | children *= child* | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient | | 9 | **is a** | past | Fish | no business | | | | of children *= child* | tree rules | 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 78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/37/78/) - next →: [sentence 80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/37/80/) - ↑ back to [Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/37/)