---
title: When some time had passed the witch told her daughter to go and cut… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When some time had passed the witch told her daughter to go and cut a finger off Esben, so that she could see whether he was nearly fat enough yet. Who acts: time, witch, daughter, property. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 29, with its dependency tree an
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 29, sentence 57

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When some time had passed the witch told her daughter to go and cut a finger off Esben, so that she could see whether he was nearly fat enough yet.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** time, witch, daughter, property · **What happens:** pass, tell, go, cut, see, be · **To what, where:** daughter, finger · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (time, witch, daughter, property), 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:pg5615:29:57
# text = When some time had passed the witch told her daughter to go and cut a finger off Esben, so that she could see whether he was nearly fat enough yet.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	iobj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	finger	finger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	off	off	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	Esben	Esben	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
25	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	fat	fat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	ccomp	_	_
30	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past · perfect | some time |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the witch |  | witch's daughter |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent daughter=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **go** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the witch *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **cut** | infinitive | the witch *not said here* | a finger |  |  |  | off Esben | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent finger=Patient off esben=Co-Patient |
| 5 | **see** | could | daughter |  |  |  | yet |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **is** | past | property |  |  |  |  | enough, fat, nearly *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 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.

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