--- title: “What a pity it is that men do nothing but torment and persecute poo… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: “What a pity it is that men do nothing but torment and persecute poor creatures which never do them any harm!” said he, and he took out his knife and cut the cords of the net, and the owl flitted away into the darkness, but then turning, with one flicker of her wings, she came back to Charming and s --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/28/60/) [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 Blue Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/) / [The Story of Pretty Goldilocks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/28/) / 60 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Story of Pretty Goldilocks, sentence 60 “What a pity it is that men do nothing but torment and persecute poor creatures which never do them any harm!” said he, and he took out his knife and cut the cords of the net, and the owl flitted away into the darkness, but then turning, with one flicker of her wings, she came back to Charming and said: **Who acts:** owl, creature, Charming, wings · **What happens:** be, persecute, not do, say, take out, cut · **To what, where:** poor creatures, knife, cords, darkness, Charming · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Pretty Goldilocks. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (owl, creature, Charming, wings), 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:pg503:28:60 # text = “What a pity it is that men do nothing but torment and persecute poor creatures which never do them any harm!” said he, and he took out his knife and cut the cords of the net, and the owl flitted away into the darkness, but then turning, with one flicker of her wings, she came back to Charming and said: 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 What what PRON WP PronType=Int 4 nsubj _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 pity pity NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 5 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 6 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 9 cop _ _ 7 that that SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 8 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nsubj _ _ 9 do do VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 10 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 9 obj _ _ 11 but but CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 torment torment NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 conj _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 14 persecute persecute VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|Typo=Yes|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 15 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 amod _ _ 16 creatures creature NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 nsubj _ _ 17 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 19 obj _ _ 18 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 19 advmod _ _ 19 do do VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 16 acl:relcl _ _ 20 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 obj _ _ 21 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 22 det _ _ 22 harm harm NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ! ! PUNCT . _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 24 ” " PUNCT '' _ 19 punct _ _ 25 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 parataxis _ _ 26 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 29 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 ccomp _ _ 31 out out ADP RP _ 30 compound:prt _ _ 32 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 33 knife knife NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 35 cut cut VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 conj _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 cords cord NOUN NNS Number=Plur 35 obj _ _ 38 of of ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 net net NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 owl owl NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nsubj _ _ 45 flitted flit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 conj _ _ 46 away away ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 47 into into ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 darkness darkness NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 53 punct _ _ 51 but but CCONJ CC _ 53 cc _ _ 52 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 53 advmod _ _ 53 turning turn VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 45 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 54 , , PUNCT , _ 57 punct _ _ 55 with with ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 56 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 57 nummod _ _ 57 flicker flicker NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 conj _ _ 58 of of ADP IN _ 60 case _ _ 59 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 60 nmod:poss _ _ 60 wings wing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 57 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 61 , , PUNCT , _ 63 punct _ _ 62 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 63 nsubj _ _ 63 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 parataxis _ _ 64 back back ADV RB _ 63 advmod _ _ 65 to to ADP IN _ 66 case _ _ 66 Charming Charming PROPN NNP Number=Sing 63 obl _ _ 67 and and CCONJ CC _ 68 cc _ _ 68 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 63 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 69 : : PUNCT : _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | owl | | | | | do *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **persecute** *in a quote* | present | owl *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **not** **do** *in a quote* | present | | poor creatures | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **say** *speech: express* | past | | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **take out** | past | creature | creature's knife | | | | | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knife=Theme | | 6 | **cut** | past | creature *not said here* | the cords of the net | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset cord=Product | | 7 | **flit away** | past | the owl | | | the darkness | | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into darkness=Destination | | 8 | **turn** | gerund | the owl *not said here* | | | | then | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | | 9 | **come back** | past | Charming | | | Charming | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to charming=Initial\_Location | | 10 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Charming *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 11 | **flicker** | | Charming's wings | | | | | | nom flicker «event intransitive»: of=agent | 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 59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/28/59/) - next →: [sentence 61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/28/61/) - ↑ back to [The Story of Pretty Goldilocks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/28/)