---
title: There he saw a man who wanted to give his pig some acorns to eat, an… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: There he saw a man who wanted to give his pig some acorns to eat, and was trying with all his might to make him climb up the oak-tree. Who acts: lover, man. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Six Sillies, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Six Sillies, sentence 30

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There he saw a man who wanted to give his pig some acorns to eat, and was trying with all his might to make him climb up the oak-tree.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** lover, man · **What happens:** see, want, give, eat, try, make · **To what, where:** man, acorns, pig, lover, oak tree

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Six Sillies. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lover, man), 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:pg540:28:30
# text = There he saw a man who wanted to give his pig some acorns to eat, and was trying with all his might to make him climb up the oak-tree.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	pig	pig	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	det	_	_
13	acorns	acorn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
20	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	23	det:predet	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	up	up	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
30	oak	oak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | lover | a man |  | there |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus |
| 2 | **want** | past | a man |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **give** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a man *not said here* | some acorns | lover's pig |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent pig=Recipient acorn=Theme |
| 4 | **eat** | to-infinitive | a man *not said here* | some acorns *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **try** | might · past | lover *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **make** | to-infinitive | lover *not said here* | lover |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **climb up** | infinitive | lover *not said here* | the oak tree |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location tree=Theme |

<!-- .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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