--- title: “On Christmas Eve he was so poor that he came to me and begged for a… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: “On Christmas Eve he was so poor that he came to me and begged for a trifle, for God’s sake, and now he gives a feast as if he were both a count and a king!” thought he. Who acts: Man. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Why the Sea Is Salt, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/32/) [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 Blue Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/) / [Why the Sea Is Salt](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/) / 32 # The Blue Fairy Book, Why the Sea Is Salt, sentence 32 “On Christmas Eve he was so poor that he came to me and begged for a trifle, for God’s sake, and now he gives a feast as if he were both a count and a king!” thought he. **Who acts:** Man · **What happens:** be, come, beg, give, think · **To what, where:** Christmas Eve, me, feast, count, Man · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Why the Sea Is Salt. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Man), 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:pg503:20:32 # text = “On Christmas Eve he was so poor that he came to me and begged for a trifle, for God’s sake, and now he gives a feast as if he were both a count and a king!” thought he. 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 On on ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 3 Christmas Christmas PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 compound _ _ 4 Eve Eve PROPN NNP Number=Sing 8 obl _ _ 5 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 6 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 7 so so ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 8 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 9 that that SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 advcl _ _ 12 to to ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 13 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 11 obl _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 15 begged beg VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 conj _ _ 16 for for ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 trifle trifle NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 20 for for ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 21 God God PROPN NNP Number=Sing 23 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ’s 's PART POS _ 21 case _ _ 23 sake sake NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 26 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 28 advmod _ _ 27 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 gives give VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 43 advcl _ _ 29 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 feast feast NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 31 as as SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 32 if if SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 33 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 34 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 37 cop _ _ 35 both both CCONJ CC _ 37 cc:preconj _ _ 36 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 count count NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nsubj _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 39 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 ! ! PUNCT . _ 40 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ” " PUNCT '' _ 40 punct _ _ 43 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 advcl _ _ 44 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** *in a quote* | past | Man | | | Christmas Eve | | poor *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **come** *in a quote* | past | Man | | me | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to i=Initial\_Location | | 3 | **beg** *speech: request* *in a quote* | participle | Man *not said here* | | | | | for a trifle; for God's sake | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent for trifle=Topic | | 4 | **give** *in a quote* | present | Man | a feast | | | now | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feast=Theme | | 5 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past | Man | a count and a king | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **think** *speech: other* | past | | Man | | | | | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot he=Theme | 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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/31/) - next →: [sentence 33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/33/) - ↑ back to [Why the Sea Is Salt](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/)