---
title: But when you cared for the poor little mouse you could not have know… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But when you cared for the poor little mouse you could not have known there was anything to be gained by it, and to try you further I took the form of the old woman whom you talked to from the window, and then I was convinced that you really loved me.’ Who acts: you, anything, I. A sentence of «The 
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Little Good Mouse, sentence 91

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But when you cared for the poor little mouse you could not have known there was anything to be gained by it, and to try you further I took the form of the old woman whom you talked to from the window, and then I was convinced that you really loved me.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, anything, I · **What happens:** care, not know, be, gain, try, take · **To what, where:** you, form, old woman, window, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Good Mouse. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, anything, I), 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:pg540:22:91
# text = But when you cared for the poor little mouse you could not have known there was anything to be gained by it, and to try you further I took the form of the old woman whom you talked to from the window, and then I was convinced that you really loved me.’
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	cared	care	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
8	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
13	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux	_	_
14	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
15	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	16	expl	_	_
16	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
17	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	16	nsubj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	gained	gain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	advcl	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	further	further	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
29	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
37	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	39	obj	_	_
38	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	talked	talk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	acl:relcl	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	xcomp	_	_
41	from	from	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
46	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	49	advmod	_	_
47	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	cop	_	_
49	convinced	convinced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
50	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
51	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
52	really	really	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	loved	love	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	advcl	_	_
54	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **care** | past | you |  |  |  |  | for the poor little mouse | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent for mouse=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **know** | could · perfect · passive |  | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** | past | anything |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **gain** | to-infinitive · passive | anything *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by advantage | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V» |
| 5 | **try** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | you |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Eventuality |
| 6 | **take** | past | I | the form of the old woman |  |  |  | further *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Theme |
| 7 | **talk** | past | you | the old woman |  | the window |  |  | vn compel-59.1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent whom=Patient |
| 8 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  | then | convinced *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **love** | past | you | me |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer i=Stimulus |
| 10 | **form** |  |  | the old woman |  |  |  |  | nom form «communication 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 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.

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