--- title: “It’s a mercy,” he said, “that they didn’t root up the tree on which… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: “It’s a mercy,” he said, “that they didn’t root up the tree on which I was perched, or I should have had to jump like a squirrel on to another, which, nimble though I am, would have been no easy job.” Who acts: tree, tailor, horsemen. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brave Lit --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/42/103/) [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 Brave Little Tailor](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/42/) / 103 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Brave Little Tailor, sentence 103 “It’s a mercy,” he said, “that they didn’t root up the tree on which I was perched, or I should have had to jump like a squirrel on to another, which, nimble though I am, would have been no easy job.” **Who acts:** tree, tailor, horsemen · **What happens:** be, say, not root up, perch, have, jump · **To what, where:** mercy, tree, tailor, another, easy job · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brave Little Tailor. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tree, tailor, horsemen), 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:pg503:42:103 # text = “It’s a mercy,” he said, “that they didn’t root up the tree on which I was perched, or I should have had to jump like a squirrel on to another, which, nimble though I am, would have been no easy job.” 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 3 ’s be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 mercy mercy NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 ” " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 8 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 11 “ " PUNCT `` _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 that that SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 13 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 14 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 15 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 16 advmod _ _ 16 root root VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 ccomp _ _ 17 up up ADP RP _ 16 compound:prt _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obj _ _ 20 on on ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 21 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 24 obl _ _ 22 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 23 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 aux:pass _ _ 24 perched perch VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 19 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 26 or or CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 27 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 28 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 29 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 30 aux _ _ 30 had have VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 24 conj _ _ 31 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 32 jump jump VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 xcomp _ _ 33 like like ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 squirrel squirrel NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ _ 36 on on ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 to to ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 another another DET DT PronType=Ind 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 40 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 42 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 42 nimble nimble ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 conj _ _ 43 though though SCONJ IN _ 45 mark _ _ 44 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 45 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 42 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 , , PUNCT , _ 52 punct _ _ 47 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 52 aux _ _ 48 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 52 aux _ _ 49 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 52 cop _ _ 50 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 52 det _ _ 51 easy easy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 52 amod _ _ 52 job job NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 54 ” " PUNCT '' _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | tree | a mercy | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | tailor | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **not** **root up** *in a quote* | past · do-support | horsemen *= horseman* | the tree | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent tree=Patient | | 4 | **perch** *in a quote* | past · passive | | tailor | | the tree | | | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on which=Destination | | 5 | **have** *in a quote* | should · perfect | tailor | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **jump** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | tailor *not said here* | | | another | | like a squirrel | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on another=Trajectory | | 7 | **is a** *in a quote* | would · perfect | horsemen *= horseman* *not said here* | no easy job | | | | | 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 102](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/42/102/) - next →: [sentence 104](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/42/104/) - ↑ back to [The Brave Little Tailor](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/42/)