--- title: The poor children fell upon their knees, and begged his pardon; but… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The poor children fell upon their knees, and begged his pardon; but they had to do with one of the most cruel ogres in the world, who, far from having any pity on them, had already devoured them with his eyes, and told his wife they would be delicate eating when tossed up with good savory sauce. Who --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/33/80/) [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/) / [Little Thumb](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/33/) / 80 # The Blue Fairy Book, Little Thumb, sentence 80 The poor children fell upon their knees, and begged his pardon; but they had to do with one of the most cruel ogres in the world, who, far from having any pity on them, had already devoured them with his eyes, and told his wife they would be delicate eating when tossed up with good savory sauce. **Who acts:** poor children, children, cruel ogres, ogre · **What happens:** fall, beg, have, do, devour, tell · **To what, where:** knees, pardon, pity, children, wife · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (poor children, children, cruel ogres, ogre), 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:pg503:33:80 # text = The poor children fell upon their knees, and begged his pardon; but they had to do with one of the most cruel ogres in the world, who, far from having any pity on them, had already devoured them with his eyes, and told his wife they would be delicate eating when tossed up with good savory sauce. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ _ 4 fell fall VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 upon upon ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 7 nmod:poss _ _ 7 knees knee NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 begged beg VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 11 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 12 pardon pardon NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ; ; PUNCT : _ 16 punct _ _ 14 but but CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 15 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 16 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 xcomp _ _ 19 with with ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 18 obl _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 23 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 24 advmod _ _ 24 cruel cruel ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 ogres ogre NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 nmod _ _ 26 in in ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 world world NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 30 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 34 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 32 far far ADV RB Degree=Pos 34 advmod _ _ 33 from from SCONJ IN _ 34 mark _ _ 34 having have VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 25 acl _ _ 35 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 36 det _ _ 36 pity pity NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 37 on on ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 40 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 42 aux _ _ 41 already already ADV RB _ 42 advmod _ _ 42 devoured devour VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 16 conj _ _ 43 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 obj _ _ 44 with with ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 46 nmod:poss _ _ 46 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 48 and and CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 49 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 50 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 51 nmod:poss _ _ 51 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 iobj _ _ 52 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 55 nsubj _ _ 53 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 55 aux _ _ 54 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 55 cop _ _ 55 delicate delicate ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 ccomp _ _ 56 eating eat VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 55 advcl _ _ 57 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 58 advmod _ _ 58 tossed toss VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 56 advcl _ _ 59 up up ADP RP _ 58 compound:prt _ _ 60 with with ADP IN _ 63 case _ _ 61 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 63 amod _ _ 62 savory savory NOUN NN Number=Sing 63 compound _ _ 63 sauce sauce NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 64 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fall** | past | the poor children | | | children's knees | | | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme upon knee=Location | | 2 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | the poor children *not said here* | ogre's pardon | | | | | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.Topic»: agent=Agent pardon=Recipient | | 3 | **have** | past | children *= child* | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **do** | to-infinitive | children *= child* *not said here* | | | | | with one of the cruel ogres in the world | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **have** | gerund | the cruel ogres in the world | any pity | | | | on children *= child*; far *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pity=Patient | | 6 | **devour** | past · perfect | children *= child* *not said here* | children *= child* | | | | with ogre's eyes | vn devour-39.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient | | 7 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the poor children *not said here* | | ogre's wife | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient | | 8 | **is** | would | children *= child* | | | | | delicate *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **eat** | gerund | children *= child* *not said here* | | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 10 | **toss up** | participle | children *= child* *not said here* | | | | | with good savory sauce | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent with sauce=Material | | 11 | **pardon** | | ogre | | | | | | nom pardon «act transitive»: poss=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 79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/33/79/) - next →: [sentence 81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/33/81/) - ↑ back to [Little Thumb](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/33/)