---
title: When their father had given each of them a piece of bread for their… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When their father had given each of them a piece of bread for their breakfast, Little Thumb fancied he might make use of this instead of the pebbles by throwing it in little bits all along the way they should pass; and so he put the bread in his pocket. Who acts: father, Little Thumb, thumb, folks. 
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Little Thumb, sentence 48

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When their father had given each of them a piece of bread for their breakfast, Little Thumb fancied he might make use of this instead of the pebbles by throwing it in little bits all along the way they should pass; and so he put the bread in his pocket.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** father, Little Thumb, thumb, folks · **What happens:** give, fancy, make, throw, pass, put · **To what, where:** each, breakfast, use, little bits, way, bread

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Little Thumb. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, Little Thumb, thumb, folks), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg503:33:48
# text = When their father had given each of them a piece of bread for their breakfast, Little Thumb fancied he might make use of this instead of the pebbles by throwing it in little bits all along the way they should pass; and so he put the bread in his pocket.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	5	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	breakfast	breakfast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	Little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	Thumb	Thumb	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	fancied	fancy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	ccomp	_	_
23	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	nmod	_	_
26	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	29	case	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	fixed	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	pebbles	pebble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
30	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
31	throwing	throw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	bits	bit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
36	all	all	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
37	along	along	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
45	so	so	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
50	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	pocket	pocket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past · perfect | folks's father | each |  |  |  | for folks's breakfast | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent each=Recipient piece=Theme for breakfast=Asset |
| 2 | **fancy** | past | Little Thumb | folks's breakfast *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent breakfast=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 3 | **make** | might | thumb | use of this |  |  |  | instead the pebbles | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent use=Product |
| 4 | **throw** | gerund | thumb *not said here* | use |  | little bits along the way |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent it=Theme in bit=Destination |
| 5 | **pass** | should | folks *= folk* | the way *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme way=Trajectory |
| 6 | **put** | past | thumb | the bread |  | thumb's pocket |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent bread=Theme in pocket=Destination |
| 7 | **use** |  |  | this |  |  |  |  | nom use «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .note -->
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.

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**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.

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