---
title: But the little creature was determined to do it, and begged and pray… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the little creature was determined to do it, and begged and prayed so long that the mother was forced to let him have some old rags, and tie up a little food for him, and then gaily and happily he went out into the world. Who acts: little creature, mother, Heaven. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Bo
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Mother Holle, part 1, sentence 66

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the little creature was determined to do it, and begged and prayed so long that the mother was forced to let him have some old rags, and tie up a little food for him, and then gaily and happily he went out into the world.

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**Who acts:** little creature, mother, Heaven · **What happens:** be, do, beg, pray, force, let · **To what, where:** creature, mother, Heaven, old rags, little food, world

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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 (little creature, mother, Heaven), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg540:44:66
# text = But the little creature was determined to do it, and begged and prayed so long that the mother was forced to let him have some old rags, and tie up a little food for him, and then gaily and happily he went out into the world.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	determined	determined	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	advcl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	begged	beg	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	prayed	pray	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	xcomp	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	forced	force	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	advcl	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	28	det	_	_
27	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	rags	rag	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	tie	tie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
32	up	up	ADP	RP	_	31	compound:prt	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	41	advmod	_	_
41	gaily	gaily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	conj	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
43	happily	happily	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	conj	_	_
46	out	out	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
47	into	into	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the little creature |  |  |  |  | determined *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | the little creature *not said here* | creature |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 3 | **beg** *speech: request* | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **pray** | past |  |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 5 | **force** | past · passive |  | the mother |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **let** | to-infinitive | the mother *not said here* | Heaven |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **have** | infinitive | Heaven *not said here* | some old rags |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rag=Patient |
| 8 | **tie up** | infinitive |  | a little food |  |  |  | for Heaven | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient |
| 9 | **go out** | past | Heaven |  |  | the world |  | happily, out *property* | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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