---
title: Then the mice told her that the witch had a cat, and the cat was ver… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the mice told her that the witch had a cat, and the cat was very fond of ham; if she would give the cat her ham, it would show her the way out of the wood, and in the meantime they would spin the yarn for her. Who acts: mice, witch, cat, girl. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lan
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch (28), sentence 33

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the mice told her that the witch had a cat, and the cat was very fond of ham; if she would give the cat her ham, it would show her the way out of the wood, and in the meantime they would spin the yarn for her.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** mice, witch, cat, girl · **What happens:** tell, have, be, give, show, spin · **To what, where:** girl, cat, ham, way, wood, yarn · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch (28). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mice, witch, cat, girl), 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:pg640:39:33
# text = Then the mice told her that the witch had a cat, and the cat was very fond of ham; if she would give the cat her ham, it would show her the way out of the wood, and in the meantime they would spin the yarn for her.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	iobj	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	very	very	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	ham	ham	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
22	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	ham	ham	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
34	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	iobj	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
37	out	out	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	meantime	meantime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	_
46	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	spin	spin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	yarn	yarn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
51	for	for	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the mice |  | girl |  | then |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | past | the witch | a cat |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cat=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | past | the cat |  |  |  |  | of ham; fond *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **give** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | girl | girl's ham | the cat |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent cat=Recipient ham=Theme |
| 5 | **show** | would | cat | the way | girl | the wood |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient way=Topic |
| 6 | **spin** | would | mice *= mouse* | the yarn |  | the meantime |  | for girl | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent yarn=Result for she=Beneficiary |

<!-- .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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