--- title: When his mother put it to him to take the half-cake wi’ her blessing… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: When his mother put it to him to take the half-cake wi’ her blessing, he took it in preference to having the hale wi’ her malison; and yet the half was bigger than what the other lads had got a’thegither. Who acts: mother, man, half, other lads. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/56/43/) [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 Red Etin](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/56/) / 43 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Red Etin, sentence 43 When his mother put it to him to take the half-cake wi’ her blessing, he took it in preference to having the hale wi’ her malison; and yet the half was bigger than what the other lads had got a’thegither. **Who acts:** mother, man, half, other lads · **What happens:** put, take, have, be, get, bless · **To what, where:** cake, man, cake wi, preference, hale wi This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Red Etin. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, man, half, other lads), 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:pg503:56:43 # text = When his mother put it to him to take the half-cake wi’ her blessing, he took it in preference to having the hale wi’ her malison; and yet the half was bigger than what the other lads had got a’thegither. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 4 advmod _ _ 2 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 3 nmod:poss _ _ 3 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 put put VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 advcl _ _ 5 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 obj _ _ 6 to to ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 obl _ _ 8 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 9 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 advcl _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 11 half half NOUN NN Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 13 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 12 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 cake cake NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 compound _ _ 14 wi wi NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 ’ ' ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 17 nmod:poss _ _ 17 blessing blessing NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 20 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 21 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 obj _ _ 22 in in ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 preference preference NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ _ 24 to to SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 25 having have VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 20 advcl _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 27 hale hale ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 28 wi wi NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 ’ ' ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 31 nmod:poss _ _ 31 malison malison NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 32 ; ; PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 34 yet yet ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 half half NOUN NN Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 38 nsubj _ _ 37 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 cop _ _ 38 bigger big ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 20 parataxis _ _ 39 than than ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 what what PRON WP PronType=Rel 38 obl _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 42 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 lads lad NOUN NNS Number=Plur 45 nsubj _ _ 44 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 45 got get VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 40 acl:relcl _ _ 46 a’thegither a'thegither ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 20 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **put** | past | man's mother | cake | man | | | | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent it=Goal | | 2 | **take** | to-infinitive | man's mother *not said here* | the cake wi | | | | ' mother's blessing | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wi=Theme | | 3 | **take** | past | man | cake | | preference | | | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Value in preference=Location | | 4 | **have** | gerund | man *not said here* | the hale wi | | | | ' mother's malison | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wi=Patient | | 5 | **is** | past | the half | | | | yet | big *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **get** | past · perfect | the other lads | | | | | a'thegither *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 7 | **bless** | | mother | | | | | | nom blessing «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 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/56/42/) - next →: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/56/44/) - ↑ back to [The Red Etin](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/56/)