---
title: So the little pot was placed in safety; but it was not long before t… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So the little pot was placed in safety; but it was not long before the Cat had a great longing for it, and said to the Mouse, ‘I wanted to tell you, little Mouse, that my cousin has a little son, white with brown spots, and she wants me to be godmother to it. Who acts: pot, Cat, I, cousin. A sentenc
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the little pot was placed in safety; but it was not long before the Cat had a great longing for it, and said to the Mouse, ‘I wanted to tell you, little Mouse, that my cousin has a little son, white with brown spots, and she wants me to be godmother to it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** pot, Cat, I, cousin, me · **What happens:** place, not be, have, say, want, tell · **To what, where:** little pot, safety, great longing, Mouse, little Mouse, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (pot, Cat, I, cousin), 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:pg640:3:9
# text = So the little pot was placed in safety; but it was not long before the Cat had a great longing for it, and said to the Mouse, ‘I wanted to tell you, little Mouse, that my cousin has a little son, white with brown spots, and she wants me to be godmother to it.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	safety	safety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
15	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	Cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	longing	longing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	Mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	parataxis	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
36	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	35	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	Mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
41	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
42	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	cousin	cousin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
44	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
49	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
50	with	with	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	brown	brown	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	spots	spot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
55	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
56	wants	want	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	44	conj	_	_
57	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	56	obj	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	60	mark	_	_
59	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	60	cop	_	_
60	godmother	godmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	xcomp	_	_
61	to	to	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
62	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **place** | past · passive |  | the little pot |  | safety |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in safety=Destination |
| 2 | **not** **is** | past | pot |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | past | the Cat | a great longing |  |  |  | for pot | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent longing=Patient |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | the Mouse |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to mouse=Recipient |
| 5 | **want** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | little Mouse | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 7 | **have** | present | my cousin | a little son |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient |
| 8 | **want** | present | cat | me |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot i=Theme |
| 9 | **is a** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | me *not said here* | godmother | pot |  |  |  | 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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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