--- title: The old woman begins by saying to her son before leaving, “Well, wel… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: The old woman begins by saying to her son before leaving, “Well, well, my poor boy, if you want to go, it's better for you to go, and God be with you.”--(The old woman thought for the best when she said that.)--“But stop a bit before you go. Who acts: old woman, son, God, woman. A sentence of «Engli --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/20/6/) [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/) / [Jack and His Golden Snuff-box](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/20/) / 6 # English Fairy Tales, Jack and His Golden Snuff-box, sentence 6 The old woman begins by saying to her son before leaving, “Well, well, my poor boy, if you want to go, it's better for you to go, and God be with you.”--(The old woman thought for the best when she said that.)--“But stop a bit before you go. **Who acts:** old woman, son, God, woman, you · **What happens:** begin, say, leave, want, go, be · **To what, where:** son, that, bit · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Jack and His Golden Snuff-box. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old woman, son, God, woman), 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:pg7439:20:6 # text = The old woman begins by saying to her son before leaving, “Well, well, my poor boy, if you want to go, it's better for you to go, and God be with you.”--(The old woman thought for the best when she said that.)--“But stop a bit before you go. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 begins begin VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 by by SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 6 saying say VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 advcl _ _ 7 to to ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 10 before before SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 11 leaving leave VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 6 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 13 “ " PUNCT `` _ 20 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 14 Well well INTJ UH _ 20 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 16 well well INTJ UH _ 20 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 18 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 20 nmod:poss _ _ 19 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 22 if if SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 23 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 want want VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 28 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 expl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 's be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 30 cop _ _ 30 better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 26 parataxis _ _ 31 for for SCONJ IN _ 34 mark _ _ 32 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 to to PART TO _ 34 mark _ _ 34 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 37 God God PROPN NNP Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 38 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 40 cop _ _ 39 with with ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 26 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 24 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ” " PUNCT '' _ 24 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 43 -- -- PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 44 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 48 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 46 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 woman woman NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nsubj _ _ 48 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 parataxis _ _ 49 for for ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 54 ccomp _ _ 52 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 54 advmod _ _ 53 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 54 nsubj _ _ 54 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 48 ccomp _ _ 55 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 54 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 56 . . PUNCT . _ 54 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 57 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 54 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 58 -- -- PUNCT , _ 61 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 59 “ " PUNCT `` _ 61 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 60 But but CCONJ CC _ 61 cc _ _ 61 stop stop VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 54 parataxis _ _ 62 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 63 det _ _ 63 bit bit NOUN NN Number=Sing 61 obj _ _ 64 before before SCONJ IN _ 66 mark _ _ 65 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 66 nsubj _ _ 66 go go VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 61 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 67 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **begin** | present | the old woman | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | the old woman *not said here* | | woman's son | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to son=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **leave** | gerund | | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **want** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | woman's son *= son* | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 5 | **go** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | woman's son *= son* *not said here* | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **is** *in a quote* | present | | | | | | good *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **go** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | woman's son *= son* | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **is** *in a quote* | infinitive | God | | | | | with woman's son *= son* | tree rules | | 9 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the old woman | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 10 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | woman | that | | | | | tree rules | | 11 | **stop** *in a quote* | infinitive | | a bit | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality bit=Eventuality | | 12 | **go** *in a quote* | present | you | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/20/5/) - next →: [sentence 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/20/7/) - ↑ back to [Jack and His Golden Snuff-box](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/20/)