---
title: He was always going about grumbling and growling, and saying that it… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was always going about grumbling and growling, and saying that it seemed to him that there might be such a thing as having too many of these good gifts; so shortly before another baby was born he went away into the wood for some firewood, saying that he did not want to see the new child; he would
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Mother Holle, part 1, sentence 62

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was always going about grumbling and growling, and saying that it seemed to him that there might be such a thing as having too many of these good gifts; so shortly before another baby was born he went away into the wood for some firewood, saying that he did not want to see the new child; he would hear him quite soon enough when he began to squall for some food.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, it, thing · **What happens:** go, grumble, growl, say, seem, be · **To what, where:** man, thing, many, baby, wood, new child · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mother Holle, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, it, thing), 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:pg540:44:62
# text = He was always going about grumbling and growling, and saying that it seemed to him that there might be such a thing as having too many of these good gifts; so shortly before another baby was born he went away into the wood for some firewood, saying that he did not want to see the new child; he would hear him quite soon enough when he began to squall for some food.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	4	advmod	_	_
4	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	grumbling	grumble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	growling	growl	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
18	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	20	expl	_	_
19	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	cop	_	_
21	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	23	det:predet	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	xcomp	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
25	having	have	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	23	acl	_	_
26	too	too	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	31	det	_	_
30	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	gifts	gift	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
33	so	so	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	shortly	shortly	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
35	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
36	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	37	det	_	_
37	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux:pass	_	_
39	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	conj	_	_
42	away	away	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
43	into	into	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
46	for	for	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	48	det	_	_
48	firewood	firewood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
50	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	41	advcl	_	_
51	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
53	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
54	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	55	advmod	_	_
55	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	ccomp	_	_
56	to	to	PART	TO	_	57	mark	_	_
57	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	xcomp	_	_
58	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
59	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
62	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
63	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
64	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	advcl	_	_
65	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	obj	_	_
66	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	67	advmod	_	_
67	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	64	advmod	_	_
68	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	67	advmod	_	_
69	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	71	advmod	_	_
70	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	71	nsubj	_	_
71	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	64	advcl	_	_
72	to	to	PART	TO	_	73	mark	_	_
73	squall	squall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	71	xcomp	_	_
74	for	for	ADP	IN	_	76	case	_	_
75	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	76	det	_	_
76	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
77	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past · progressive | man |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **grumble** *speech: other* | gerund | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **growl** | gerund | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **seem** | past | it |  | man |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **is a** | infinitive |  | such thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **have** | gerund | such thing *not said here* | many of this good gifts |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent many=Patient |
| 8 | **bear** | past · passive |  | another baby |  |  |  | shortly *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 9 | **go away** | past | man |  |  | the wood for some firewood |  | away *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into wood=Initial\_Location |
| 10 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 11 | **not** **want** | past · do-support | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 12 | **see** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | the new child |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer child=Stimulus |
| 13 | **hear** | would | man | child |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 14 | **begin** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 15 | **squall** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for some food | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for food=Recipient |

<!-- .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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