--- title: Let him do what he might with rod and line, there was never even so… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Let him do what he might with rod and line, there was never even so much as a sprat on his hook; but when the day was well nigh over, a head rose up out of the water, and said: ‘If you will give me what your wife shows you when you go home, you shall catch fish enough.’ Who acts: you, fisherman, day --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/26/3/) [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/) / [The Three Princesses of Whiteland](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/26/) / 3 # The Red Fairy Book, The Three Princesses of Whiteland, sentence 3 Let him do what he might with rod and line, there was never even so much as a sprat on his hook; but when the day was well nigh over, a head rose up out of the water, and said: ‘If you will give me what your wife shows you when you go home, you shall catch fish enough.’ **Who acts:** you, fisherman, day, head, wife · **What happens:** let, do, be, rise up, say, give · **To what, where:** fisherman, water, me, you, fish · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Princesses of Whiteland. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, fisherman, day, head), 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:pg540:26:3 # text = Let him do what he might with rod and line, there was never even so much as a sprat on his hook; but when the day was well nigh over, a head rose up out of the water, and said: ‘If you will give me what your wife shows you when you go home, you shall catch fish enough.’ 1 Let let VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 2 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 1 obj _ _ 3 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 1 xcomp _ _ 4 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 3 obj _ _ 5 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 4 acl:relcl _ _ 7 with with ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 rod rod NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 line line NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 12 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 13 expl _ _ 13 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 1 advcl _ _ 14 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 17 advmod _ _ 15 even even ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 16 so so ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 ccomp _ _ 18 as as ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 sprat sprat NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nmod _ _ 21 on on ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 hook hook NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 24 ; ; PUNCT : _ 36 punct _ _ 25 but but CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 26 when when SCONJ WRB _ 32 mark _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nsubj _ _ 29 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 cop _ _ 30 well well ADV RB Degree=Pos 32 advmod _ _ 31 nigh nigh ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 over over ADV RB _ 36 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 34 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nsubj _ _ 36 rose rise VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 1 parataxis _ _ 37 up up ADP RP _ 36 compound:prt _ _ 38 out out ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 44 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 : : PUNCT : _ 50 punct _ _ 46 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 50 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 If if SCONJ IN _ 50 mark _ _ 48 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 50 nsubj _ _ 49 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 50 aux _ _ 50 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 44 ccomp _ _ 51 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 50 iobj _ _ 52 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 55 obj _ _ 53 your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 54 nmod:poss _ _ 54 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 nsubj _ _ 55 shows show VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 50 conj _ _ 56 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 55 iobj _ _ 57 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 59 advmod _ _ 58 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 59 nsubj _ _ 59 go go VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 55 ccomp _ _ 60 home home ADV RB _ 59 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 61 , , PUNCT , _ 64 punct _ _ 62 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 64 nsubj _ _ 63 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 64 aux _ _ 64 catch catch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 50 advcl _ _ 65 fish fish NOUN NN Number=Sing 64 obj _ _ 66 enough enough ADV RB _ 64 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 67 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 68 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 1 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **let** | imperative | you *not said here* | fisherman | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **do** | infinitive | fisherman *not said here* | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality | | 3 | **be** | past | you *not said here* | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **is** | past | the day | | | | | nigh, over, well *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **rise up** | past | a head | | | the water | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent out water=Location | | 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | a head *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 7 | **give** *a condition, not said to happen* | future | you | | me | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme | | 8 | **show** | present | your wife | | you | | | | tree rules | | 9 | **go** | present | you | | | | | home *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 10 | **catch** | shall | you | fish | | | | enough *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fish=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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/26/2/) - next →: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/26/4/) - ↑ back to [The Three Princesses of Whiteland](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/26/)