--- title: But we return to Whittington, who could have lived happy in this wor… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: But we return to Whittington, who could have lived happy in this worthy family had he not been bumped about by the cross cook, who must be always roasting and basting, or when the spit was idle employed her hands upon poor Whittington! Who acts: we, cross cook. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/13/) [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 History of Whittington](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/) / 13 # The Blue Fairy Book, The History of Whittington, sentence 13 But we return to Whittington, who could have lived happy in this worthy family had he not been bumped about by the cross cook, who must be always roasting and basting, or when the spit was idle employed her hands upon poor Whittington! **Who acts:** we, cross cook · **What happens:** return, live, not bump, be, employ · **To what, where:** Whittington, worthy family, spit This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Whittington. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, cross cook), 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:pg503:29:13 # text = But we return to Whittington, who could have lived happy in this worthy family had he not been bumped about by the cross cook, who must be always roasting and basting, or when the spit was idle employed her hands upon poor Whittington! 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 3 cc _ _ 2 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 return return VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 to to ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 Whittington Whittington PROPN NNP Number=Sing 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 7 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 10 nsubj _ _ 8 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 10 aux _ _ 9 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 10 aux _ _ 10 lived live VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 3 conj _ _ 11 happy happy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 10 xcomp _ _ 12 in in ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 13 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 15 det _ _ 14 worthy worthy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 family family NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ _ 16 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ _ 17 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj:pass _ _ 18 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 20 advmod _ _ 19 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 20 aux:pass _ _ 20 bumped bump VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 10 parataxis _ _ 21 about about ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ _ 22 by by ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 24 cross cross ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 cook cook NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 27 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 31 nsubj _ _ 28 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 29 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 31 cop _ _ 30 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 31 advmod _ _ 31 roasting roast VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 25 conj _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 basting basting NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 35 or or CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 36 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 41 advmod _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 spit spit NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nsubj:pass _ _ 39 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 aux:pass _ _ 40 idle idle ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 amod _ _ 41 employed employ VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 conj _ _ 42 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 43 nmod:poss _ _ 43 hands hand NOUN NNS Number=Plur 41 obj _ _ 44 upon upon ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 amod _ _ 46 Whittington Whittington PROPN NNP Number=Sing 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 ! ! PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **return** | present | we | | Whittington | | | | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to whittington=Result | | 2 | **live** | could · perfect | | | | | | happy *property* | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **not** **bump** | past · perfect · passive | the cross cook and basting | Whittington | | this worthy family | | about *property* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent subject=Instrument | | 4 | **is** | must | the cross cook and basting | | | | | always, roast *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **employ** | past · passive | | the spit | | | | upon poor Whittington | 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 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 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/12/) - next →: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/14/) - ↑ back to [The History of Whittington](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/)