---
title: So saying, she gave the lad a piece of broken potsherd, with these w… — Indian Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So saying, she gave the lad a piece of broken potsherd, with these words inscribed on it--"Kill the bearer at once, and sprinkle his blood like water!" Who acts: matter. A sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 13, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# Indian Fairy Tales, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 13, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So saying, she gave the lad a piece of broken potsherd, with these words inscribed on it--"Kill the bearer at once, and sprinkle his blood like water!"

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** matter · **What happens:** say, give, break, inscribe, kill, sprinkle · **To what, where:** lad, words, potsherd, bearer, blood · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (matter), 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:pg7128:19:15
# text = So saying, she gave the lad a piece of broken potsherd, with these words inscribed on it--"Kill the bearer at once, and sprinkle his blood like water!"
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	amod	_	_
12	potsherd	potsherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	16	det	_	_
16	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
17	inscribed	inscribe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	Kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	bearer	bearer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	sprinkle	sprinkle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	blood	blood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	like	like	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: express* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with this words | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **give** | past | matter | the lad |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent lad=Recipient piece=Theme |
| 3 | **break** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **inscribe** | participle |  | this words *not said here* |  | potsherd |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: agent=Agent on it=Destination |
| 5 | **kill** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | the bearer |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bearer=Theme |
| 6 | **sprinkle** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | lad's blood |  |  |  | like water | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent blood=Theme |

<!-- .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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