--- title: But on the road three wicked elves fell on me, and robbed me of my s… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: But on the road three wicked elves fell on me, and robbed me of my soul, so that ever since I have stayed in this spot watching my sheep without wishing for anything different, without having felt one moment’s joy, or ever once being able to laugh. Who acts: I, spot, having, one moment. A sentence o --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/44/29/) [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 Violet Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/) / [Mogarzea and His Son](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/44/) / 29 # The Violet Fairy Book, Mogarzea and His Son, sentence 29 But on the road three wicked elves fell on me, and robbed me of my soul, so that ever since I have stayed in this spot watching my sheep without wishing for anything different, without having felt one moment’s joy, or ever once being able to laugh. **Who acts:** I, spot, having, one moment · **What happens:** fall, rob, stay, watch, wish, have · **To what, where:** road, me, spot, sheep, joy This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mogarzea and His Son. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, spot, having, one moment), 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:pg641:44:29 # text = But on the road three wicked elves fell on me, and robbed me of my soul, so that ever since I have stayed in this spot watching my sheep without wishing for anything different, without having felt one moment’s joy, or ever once being able to laugh. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 2 on on ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 road road NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ _ 5 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 7 nummod _ _ 6 wicked wicked ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 elves elf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nmod _ _ 8 fell fall VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 9 on on ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 10 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 13 robbed rob VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 14 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 13 obj _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 17 nmod:poss _ _ 17 soul soul NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 19 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 25 mark _ _ 20 that that SCONJ IN _ 19 fixed _ _ 21 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 25 advmod _ _ 22 since since SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 23 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 24 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 25 stayed stay VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 13 conj _ _ 26 in in ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 28 det _ _ 28 spot spot NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ _ 29 watching watch VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 28 acl _ _ 30 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 31 nmod:poss _ _ 31 sheep sheep NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 obj _ _ 32 without without SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 33 wishing wish VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 29 advcl _ _ 34 for for ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 anything anything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 33 obl _ _ 36 different different ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 38 without without SCONJ IN _ 39 mark _ _ 39 having have VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 40 csubj _ _ 40 felt feel VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 advcl _ _ 41 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 42 nummod _ _ 42 moment moment NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 43 ’s 's PART POS _ 42 case _ _ 44 joy joy NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 46 or or CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 47 ever ever ADV RB PronType=Ind 48 advmod _ _ 48 once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 50 advmod _ _ 49 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 50 cop _ _ 50 able able ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 conj _ _ 51 to to PART TO _ 52 mark _ _ 52 laugh laugh VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 50 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fall** | past | | | | the road three wicked elves | | on me | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on road=Location | | 2 | **rob** | past | | me | | | | of my soul | vn rob-10.6.4 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent i=Theme of soul=Source | | 3 | **stay** | present · perfect | I | | | this spot | ever | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in spot=Location | | 4 | **watch** | gerund | this spot *not said here* | my sheep | | | | | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sheep=Theme | | 5 | **wish** | gerund | this spot *not said here* | | | | | for anything | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for anything=Theme | | 6 | **have** | gerund | | | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **feel** | past | having | one moment's joy | | | | | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent joy=Theme | | 8 | **is** | gerund | | | | | | able, once *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **laugh** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 10 | **joy** | | one moment | | | | | | nom joy «feeling transitive»: poss=agent | 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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/44/28/) - next →: [sentence 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/44/30/) - ↑ back to [Mogarzea and His Son](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/44/)