--- title: So the old man took them a knife, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Keep… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: So the old man took them a knife, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Keep this carefully, and as long as the blade is bright all is well; but if the blade is bloody, then know that evil has befallen him.’ Who acts: old man, blade, all. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Bo --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/20/58/) [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 Pink Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/) / [The Pink Fairy Book, part 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/20/) / 58 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 58 So the old man took them a knife, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Keep this carefully, and as long as the blade is bright all is well; but if the blade is bloody, then know that evil has befallen him.’ **Who acts:** old man, blade, all · **What happens:** take, give, say, keep, be, know · **To what, where:** things, knife, this, evil · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, blade, all), 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:pg5615:20:58 # text = So the old man took them a knife, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Keep this carefully, and as long as the blade is bright all is well; but if the blade is bloody, then know that evil has befallen him.’ 1 So so ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 3 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 4 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 obj _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 knife knife NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 12 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 obj _ _ 13 to to ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 16 saying say VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 11 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 18 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 19 Keep keep VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 ccomp _ _ 20 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 19 obj _ _ 21 carefully carefully ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 24 as as ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ _ 25 long long ADV RB Degree=Pos 19 advmod _ _ 26 as as SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 blade blade NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nsubj _ _ 29 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 30 cop _ _ 30 bright bright ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 advcl _ _ 31 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 33 nsubj _ _ 32 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 33 cop _ _ 33 well well ADV RB Degree=Pos 25 fixed _ SpaceAfter=No 34 ; ; PUNCT : _ 43 punct _ _ 35 but but CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 36 if if SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 blade blade NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 39 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 40 cop _ _ 40 bloody bloody ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 42 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 43 advmod _ _ 43 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 parataxis _ _ 44 that that SCONJ IN _ 47 mark _ _ 45 evil evil NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 nsubj:pass _ _ 46 has have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 47 aux _ _ 47 befallen befall VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 43 ccomp _ _ 48 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 47 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 43 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 50 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 43 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **take** | past | the old man | things *= thing* | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument they=Theme knife=Destination | | 2 | **give** | past | the old man *not said here* | knife | things *= thing* | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Theme to they=Recipient | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the old man *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **keep** | infinitive | | this | | | | carefully, long *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Theme | | 5 | **is** | present | the blade | | | | | bright *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **is** | present | all | | | | | well *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | the blade | | | | | bloody *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **know** | infinitive | | | | | then | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 9 | **befall** | present · perfect · passive | | evil | | | | | tree rules | 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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/20/57/) - next →: [sentence 59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/20/59/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/20/)