---
title: But in the midst of all this mirth a messenger brought news that one… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But in the midst of all this mirth a messenger brought news that one Thunderdell, a giant with two heads, having heard of the death of his kinsmen, had come from the northern dales to be revenged on Jack, and was within a mile of the castle, the country people flying before him like chaff. Who acts:
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Jack the Giant-killer, sentence 97

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But in the midst of all this mirth a messenger brought news that one Thunderdell, a giant with two heads, having heard of the death of his kinsmen, had come from the northern dales to be revenged on Jack, and was within a mile of the castle, the country people flying before him like chaff.

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**Who acts:** country people, kinsmen · **What happens:** bring, hear, come, revenge, be, fly · **To what, where:** northern dales, Jack

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Jack the Giant-killer. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (country people, kinsmen), 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:pg7439:23:97
# text = But in the midst of all this mirth a messenger brought news that one Thunderdell, a giant with two heads, having heard of the death of his kinsmen, had come from the northern dales to be revenged on Jack, and was within a mile of the castle, the country people flying before him like chaff.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	midst	midst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	8	det:predet	_	_
7	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	mirth	mirth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	messenger	messenger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	amod	_	_
12	news	news	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	Thunderdell	Thunderdell	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	appos	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	nummod	_	_
21	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	aux	_	_
24	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	parataxis	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	kinsmen	kinsman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	conj	_	_
34	from	from	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	northern	northern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	dales	dale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
39	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	revenged	revenge	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	acl	_	_
41	on	on	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	Jack	Jack	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
45	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	cop	_	_
46	within	within	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	mile	mile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	parataxis	_	_
49	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
54	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	compound	_	_
55	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	parataxis	_	_
56	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	55	acl	_	_
57	before	before	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
58	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	obl	_	_
59	like	like	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	chaff	chaff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bring** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **hear** | gerund · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | of the death of messenger's kinsmen | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer of death=Stimulus |
| 3 | **come** | past · perfect |  |  |  | the northern dales |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from dale=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **revenge** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  | Jack |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | within a mile; of the castle | tree rules |
| 6 | **fly** | gerund | the country people *not said here* |  |  |  | before messenger | like chaff | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before he=Location |
| 7 | **die** |  | messenger's kinsmen |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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:** «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.

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