---
title: He asked the wife if he might stay for the night, as he was tired wi… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He asked the wife if he might stay for the night, as he was tired with a long journey; and the wife said he might, but it was not a good place for him to be in, as it belonged to the Red Ettin, who was a very terrible beast, with three heads, that spared no living man it could get hold of. Who acts:
---

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# English Fairy Tales, The Red Ettin, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He asked the wife if he might stay for the night, as he was tired with a long journey; and the wife said he might, but it was not a good place for him to be in, as it belonged to the Red Ettin, who was a very terrible beast, with three heads, that spared no living man it could get hold of.

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**Who acts:** man, wife, journey, Red Ettin, that · **What happens:** ask, stay, be, say, not be, belong · **To what, where:** wife, good place, terrible beast, living man, hold · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Red Ettin. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, wife, journey, Red Ettin), 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:pg7439:26:19
# text = He asked the wife if he might stay for the night, as he was tired with a long journey; and the wife said he might, but it was not a good place for him to be in, as it belonged to the Red Ettin, who was a very terrible beast, with three heads, that spared no living man it could get hold of.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	ccomp	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	advcl	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	journey	journey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
36	for	for	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nmod	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
39	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	cop	_	_
40	in	in	ADV	RB	_	35	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
42	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
43	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	belonged	belong	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
45	to	to	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	Red	Red	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	48	flat	_	_
48	Ettin	Ettin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
50	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	55	nsubj	_	_
51	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	cop	_	_
52	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
53	very	very	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
54	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	59	punct	_	_
57	with	with	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	59	nummod	_	_
59	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	55	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
61	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	62	nsubj	_	_
62	spared	spare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	conj	_	_
63	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	65	det	_	_
64	living	living	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	65	compound	_	_
65	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obj	_	_
66	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	68	nsubj	_	_
67	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	68	aux	_	_
68	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	65	acl:relcl	_	_
69	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	68	obj	_	_
70	of	of	ADP	IN	_	69	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | man |  | the wife |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent wife=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **stay** *a condition, not said to happen* | might | man |  |  |  | night |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | man |  |  |  |  | with a long journey; tired *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the wife |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **is a** | past | journey | a good place |  |  |  | for man | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | to-infinitive | journey *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **belong** | past | journey |  |  |  |  | to the Red Ettin | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **is a** | past | the Red Ettin | a terrible beast and three heads |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **spare** | past | that | no living man |  |  |  |  | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent man=Asset |
| 10 | **get** | could | journey | hold |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hold=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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