--- title: The widow saw that there was no means of keeping Jack and herself fr… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The widow saw that there was no means of keeping Jack and herself from starvation but by selling her cow; so one morning she said to her son, ‘I am too weak to go myself, Jack, so you must take the cow to market for me, and sell her.’ Who acts: widow, no, Jack, I. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/15/5/) [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 Red Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/) / [Jack Sells the Cow](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/15/) / 5 # The Red Fairy Book, Jack Sells the Cow, sentence 5 The widow saw that there was no means of keeping Jack and herself from starvation but by selling her cow; so one morning she said to her son, ‘I am too weak to go myself, Jack, so you must take the cow to market for me, and sell her.’ **Who acts:** widow, no, Jack, I, you · **What happens:** see, be, keep, sell, say, go · **To what, where:** Jack, starvation, cow, son, myself · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Jack Sells the Cow. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (widow, no, Jack, I), 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:pg540:15:5 # text = The widow saw that there was no means of keeping Jack and herself from starvation but by selling her cow; so one morning she said to her son, ‘I am too weak to go myself, Jack, so you must take the cow to market for me, and sell her.’ 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 widow widow NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 that that SCONJ IN _ 8 mark _ _ 5 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 8 expl _ _ 6 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 7 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 8 nsubj _ _ 8 means mean VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 3 ccomp _ _ 9 of of SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 10 keeping keep VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 8 advcl _ _ 11 Jack Jack PROPN NNP Number=Sing 10 obj _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 13 herself herself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 11 conj _ _ 14 from from ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 starvation starvation NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obl _ _ 16 but but CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 17 by by SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 18 selling sell VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 10 conj _ _ 19 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 20 nmod:poss _ _ 20 cow cow NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ; ; PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 22 so so ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 23 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 24 nummod _ _ 24 morning morning NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl:unmarked _ _ 25 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 27 to to ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 29 nmod:poss _ _ 29 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 31 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 35 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 33 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 35 cop _ _ 34 too too ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 35 weak weak ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 parataxis _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 advcl _ _ 38 myself myself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 37 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 40 Jack Jack PROPN NNP Number=Sing 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 42 so so ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 43 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 44 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 45 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 parataxis _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 47 cow cow NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obj _ _ 48 to to PART TO _ 49 mark _ _ 49 market market NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obj _ _ 50 for for ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 51 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 45 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 52 , , PUNCT , _ 54 punct _ _ 53 and and CCONJ CC _ 54 cc _ _ 54 sell sell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 45 conj _ _ 55 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 54 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 56 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 57 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | past | the widow | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **is** | past | no | | | there | | mean *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **keep** | gerund | no *not said here* | | Jack | starvation | | | vn forbid-64.4 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer jack=Beneficiary from starvation=Eventuality | | 4 | **sell** | gerund | no *not said here* | Jack's cow | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cow=Theme | | 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Jack | | Jack's son | | morning | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to son=Recipient | | 6 | **is** | present | I | | | | | weak *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **go** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | myself | | | | Jack *obl* | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location myself=Theme | | 8 | **take** | must | you | the cow | | | | for me | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument cow=Theme market=Destination | | 9 | **sell** | infinitive | you *not said here* | Jack | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/15/4/) - next →: [sentence 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/15/6/) - ↑ back to [Jack Sells the Cow](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/15/)