---
title: So one day he brought an axe to cut it down; but when he was about t… — Indian Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So one day he brought an axe to cut it down; but when he was about to begin, the bamboo called out, "Do not cut at the root, cut higher up." Who acts: Jogi. A sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# Indian Fairy Tales, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 5, sentence 34

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So one day he brought an axe to cut it down; but when he was about to begin, the bamboo called out, "Do not cut at the root, cut higher up."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Jogi · **What happens:** bring, cut down, be, begin, call out, not cut · **To what, where:** axe, bamboo · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Jogi), 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:pg7128:11:34
# text = So one day he brought an axe to cut it down; but when he was about to begin, the bamboo called out, "Do not cut at the root, cut higher up."
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	down	down	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	bamboo	bamboo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	acl	_	_
24	out	out	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	Do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
29	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
30	at	at	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	root	root	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
35	higher	high	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	36	advmod	_	_
36	up	up	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bring** | past | Jogi | a axe |  |  | day |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent axe=Theme |
| 2 | **cut down** | to-infinitive | Jogi *not said here* | axe |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product |
| 3 | **is** | past | Jogi |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **begin** | to-infinitive | Jogi *not said here* | the bamboo |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **call out** *speech: assert* | participle |  | the bamboo *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **not** **cut** *in a quote* | infinitive · do-support | Jogi *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at the root | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at root=Patient |
| 7 | **cut** *in a quote* | infinitive | Jogi *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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:** «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7128 (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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