--- title: Then he said to Nix Nought Nothing: “There's a lake seven miles long… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Then he said to Nix Nought Nothing: “There's a lake seven miles long, and seven miles deep, and seven miles broad, and you must drain it to-morrow by nightfall, or else I'll have you for my supper.” Who acts: giant, lake, Nothing. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Nix Nought Noth --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/12/38/) [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/) / [English Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/) / [Nix Nought Nothing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/12/) / 38 # English Fairy Tales, Nix Nought Nothing, sentence 38 Then he said to Nix Nought Nothing: “There's a lake seven miles long, and seven miles deep, and seven miles broad, and you must drain it to-morrow by nightfall, or else I'll have you for my supper.” **Who acts:** giant, lake, Nothing · **What happens:** say, be, drain, have · **To what, where:** Nothing, lake, morrow · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Nix Nought Nothing. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (giant, lake, Nothing), 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:pg7439:12:38 # text = Then he said to Nix Nought Nothing: “There's a lake seven miles long, and seven miles deep, and seven miles broad, and you must drain it to-morrow by nightfall, or else I'll have you for my supper.” 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 3 advmod _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 to to ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 5 Nix Nix PROPN NNP Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 6 Nought nought PRON NN PronType=Neg 7 compound _ _ 7 Nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 : : PUNCT : _ 11 punct _ _ 9 “ " PUNCT `` _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 11 expl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 's be VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 26 advcl _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 lake lake NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _ 14 seven seven NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 15 nummod _ _ 15 miles mile NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obl:unmarked _ _ 16 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 19 seven seven NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 20 nummod _ _ 20 miles mile NOUN NNS Number=Plur 21 obl:unmarked _ _ 21 deep deep ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 24 seven seven NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 25 nummod _ _ 25 miles mile NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 obl:unmarked _ _ 26 broad broad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 29 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 30 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 31 drain drain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 parataxis _ _ 32 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 obj _ _ 33 to to ADP IN _ 35 case _ SpaceAfter=No 34 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 33 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 35 morrow morrow NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 36 by by ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 37 nightfall nightfall NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 39 or or CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 40 else else ADV RB _ 43 advmod _ _ 41 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 42 'll will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 43 aux _ _ 43 have have VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 conj _ _ 44 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 43 obj _ _ 45 for for ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 46 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 47 nmod:poss _ _ 47 supper supper NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 49 ” " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | giant | | Nothing | | then | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to nothing=Recipient | | 2 | **be** *in a quote* | present | a lake | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **drain** *in a quote* | must | Nothing | lake | | morrow | | by nightfall | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP V NP PP.source PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to morrow=Destination | | 4 | **have** *in a quote* | future | giant | Nothing | | | | for my supper; else *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Patient | 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:** «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7439 (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 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/12/37/) - next →: [sentence 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/12/39/) - ↑ back to [Nix Nought Nothing](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/12/)