--- title: While puss was beating the billows at sea, poor Whittington was seve… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: While puss was beating the billows at sea, poor Whittington was severely beaten at home by his tyrannical mistress the cook, who used him so cruelly, and made such game of him for sending his cat to sea, that at last the poor boy determined to run away from his place, and having packed up the few th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/28/) [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/) / 28 # The Blue Fairy Book, The History of Whittington, sentence 28 While puss was beating the billows at sea, poor Whittington was severely beaten at home by his tyrannical mistress the cook, who used him so cruelly, and made such game of him for sending his cat to sea, that at last the poor boy determined to run away from his place, and having packed up the few things he had, he set out very early in the morning on All-Hallows day. **Who acts:** puss, tyrannical mistress, cook, poor boy · **What happens:** beat, use, make, send, determine, run away · **To what, where:** billows, sea, poor Whittington, home, Whittington, such game 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 (puss, tyrannical mistress, cook, poor boy), 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:pg503:29:28 # text = While puss was beating the billows at sea, poor Whittington was severely beaten at home by his tyrannical mistress the cook, who used him so cruelly, and made such game of him for sending his cat to sea, that at last the poor boy determined to run away from his place, and having packed up the few things he had, he set out very early in the morning on All-Hallows day. 1 While while SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 2 puss puss NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 beating beat VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 14 advcl _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 billows billow NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obj _ _ 7 at at ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 10 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 Whittington Whittington PROPN NNP Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 12 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 aux:pass _ _ 13 severely severely ADV RB _ 14 advmod _ _ 14 beaten beat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 15 at at ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 16 home home NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ _ 17 by by ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 20 nmod:poss _ _ 19 tyrannical tyrannical ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 mistress mistress NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 cook cook NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 24 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 25 nsubj _ _ 25 used use VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 acl:relcl _ _ 26 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 obj _ _ 27 so so ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ _ 28 cruelly cruelly ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 made make VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 parataxis _ _ 32 such such ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 33 game game NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ _ 34 of of ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nmod _ _ 36 for for SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 37 sending send VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 31 advcl _ _ 38 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 39 nmod:poss _ _ 39 cat cat NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obj _ _ 40 to to ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 sea sea NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 43 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 45 nsubj _ _ 44 at at ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 45 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 conj _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 47 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 48 amod _ _ 48 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 nsubj _ _ 49 determined determine VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 acl:relcl _ _ 50 to to PART TO _ 51 mark _ _ 51 run run VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 49 xcomp _ _ 52 away away ADV RB _ 51 advmod _ _ 53 from from ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 54 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 55 nmod:poss _ _ 55 place place NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 57 and and CCONJ CC _ 59 cc _ _ 58 having have AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 59 aux _ _ 59 packed pack VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 14 conj _ _ 60 up up ADP RP _ 59 compound:prt _ _ 61 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 63 det _ _ 62 few few ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 63 amod _ _ 63 things thing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 59 obj _ _ 64 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 65 nsubj _ _ 65 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 63 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 66 , , PUNCT , _ 68 punct _ _ 67 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 68 nsubj _ _ 68 set set VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 59 conj _ _ 69 out out ADP RP _ 68 compound:prt _ _ 70 very very ADV RB _ 71 advmod _ _ 71 early early ADV RB Degree=Pos 68 advmod _ _ 72 in in ADP IN _ 74 case _ _ 73 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 74 det _ _ 74 morning morning NOUN NN Number=Sing 68 obl _ _ 75 on on ADP IN _ 79 case _ _ 76 All all DET DT PronType=Tot 79 det _ SpaceAfter=No 77 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 76 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 78 Hallows Hallows PROPN NNP Number=Sing 79 compound _ _ 79 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 68 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 80 . . PUNCT . _ 14 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **beat** | past · progressive | puss | the billows | | sea | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location billow=Theme | | 2 | **beat** | past · passive | Whittington's tyrannical mistress | poor Whittington | | home | | severely *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location subject=Theme | | 3 | **use** | past | the cook | Whittington | | | | cruelly *property* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient | | 4 | **make** | past | | such game of Whittington | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset game=Product | | 5 | **send** | gerund | | Whittington's cat | | sea | | | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent cat=Theme to sea=Destination | | 6 | **determine** | past | the poor boy | | | | | | vn discover-84 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 7 | **run away** | to-infinitive | the poor boy *not said here* | | | | | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **pack up** | gerund · perfect | Whittington's tyrannical mistress *not said here* | the few things | | | | | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP.theme V NP»: agent=Theme thing=Destination | | 9 | **have** | past | puss | the few things *not said here* | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Patient | | 10 | **set out** | past | puss | | | | day; morning | early *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/27/) - next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/29/) - ↑ back to [The History of Whittington](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/29/)