---
title: Well, we were passing through a corn-field, when he asked me whether… — Indian Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Well, we were passing through a corn-field, when he asked me whether it was eaten or not." Who acts: we, man. A sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 20, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Indian Fairy Tales, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 20, sentence 27

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Well, we were passing through a corn-field, when he asked me whether it was eaten or not."

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**Who acts:** we, man · **What happens:** pass, ask, eat · **To what, where:** corn field, me, field

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This is a sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, man), 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:pg7128:26:27
# text = Well, we were passing through a corn-field, when he asked me whether it was eaten or not."
1	Well	well	INTJ	UH	_	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	passing	pass	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	through	through	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	corn	corn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
15	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	iobj	_	_
16	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	advcl	_	_
20	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past · progressive | we |  |  | a corn field |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme through field=Location |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | man |  | me |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 3 | **eat** | past · passive |  | field |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

<!-- .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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