---
title: The jackal felt it was quite hopeless to get what he wanted, and ask… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The jackal felt it was quite hopeless to get what he wanted, and asked, ‘Tell me, mother dove, how have you suddenly become so wise?’ Who acts: jackal, reach, heart, you. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 34, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 34, sentence 47

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The jackal felt it was quite hopeless to get what he wanted, and asked, ‘Tell me, mother dove, how have you suddenly become so wise?’

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**Who acts:** jackal, reach, heart, you · **What happens:** feel, be, get, want, ask, tell · **To what, where:** mother dove, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (jackal, reach, heart, you), 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:pg5615:34:47
# text = The jackal felt it was quite hopeless to get what he wanted, and asked, ‘Tell me, mother dove, how have you suddenly become so wise?’
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	jackal	jackal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	hopeless	hopeless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	obj	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	ccomp	_	_
19	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	_
22	dove	dove	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
25	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
26	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	become	become	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | past | the jackal |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | past | reach |  |  |  |  | hopeless *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **get** | to-infinitive | reach *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 4 | **want** | past | heart |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the jackal *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  | mother dove | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 7 | **become** | present | you |  |  |  |  | suddenly, wise *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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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