--- title: So she told her eldest son one day to take a can and bring her water… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: So she told her eldest son one day to take a can and bring her water from the well, that she might bake a cake for him; and however much or however little water he might bring, the cake would be great or small accordingly, and that cake was to be all that she could give him when he went on his trave --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/3/) [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/) / [The Red Ettin](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/) / 3 # English Fairy Tales, The Red Ettin, sentence 3 So she told her eldest son one day to take a can and bring her water from the well, that she might bake a cake for him; and however much or however little water he might bring, the cake would be great or small accordingly, and that cake was to be all that she could give him when he went on his travels. **Who acts:** widow, bit, cake · **What happens:** tell, take, bring, bake, be, give · **To what, where:** eldest son, water, well, cake, bit · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (widow, bit, cake), 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:pg7439:26:3 # text = So she told her eldest son one day to take a can and bring her water from the well, that she might bake a cake for him; and however much or however little water he might bring, the cake would be great or small accordingly, and that cake was to be all that she could give him when he went on his travels. 1 So so ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 2 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 6 nmod:poss _ _ 5 eldest eld ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 6 amod _ _ 6 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 iobj _ _ 7 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 8 nummod _ _ 8 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl:unmarked _ _ 9 to to PART TO _ 10 mark _ _ 10 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 ccomp _ _ 11 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 10 advcl _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 14 bring bring VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 conj _ _ 15 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 16 nmod:poss _ _ 16 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ _ 17 from from ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 well well NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 21 that that SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 22 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 23 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 24 bake bake VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 conj _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 cake cake NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 27 for for ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 ; ; PUNCT : _ 39 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 32 cc _ _ 31 however however ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 much much ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 33 or or CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 34 however however ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 35 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 amod _ _ 36 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 conj _ _ 37 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 38 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 39 bring bring VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 cake cake NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 nsubj _ _ 43 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 44 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 45 cop _ _ 45 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 conj _ _ 46 or or CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 47 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 conj _ _ 48 accordingly accordingly ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 49 , , PUNCT , _ 56 punct _ _ 50 and and CCONJ CC _ 56 cc _ _ 51 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 52 det _ _ 52 cake cake NOUN NN Number=Sing 56 nsubj _ _ 53 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 56 cop _ _ 54 to to PART TO _ 56 mark _ _ 55 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 56 cop _ _ 56 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 3 ccomp _ _ 57 that that SCONJ IN _ 60 mark _ _ 58 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 60 nsubj _ _ 59 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 60 aux _ _ 60 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 56 xcomp _ _ 61 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 60 iobj _ _ 62 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 64 advmod _ _ 63 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 64 nsubj _ _ 64 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 60 advcl _ _ 65 on on SCONJ IN _ 67 mark _ _ 66 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 67 nmod:poss _ _ 67 travels travel VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 64 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 68 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | widow | | widow's eldest son | | day | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent son=Recipient clause=Topic | | 2 | **take** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **bring** | infinitive | | widow's water | | the well | | | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent water=Theme from well=Initial\_Location | | 4 | **bake** | might | widow | a cake | | | | for bit | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent cake=Material for he=Beneficiary | | 5 | **bring** | might | bit | | | | | accordingly *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is** | would | the cake | | | | | great *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **be** | | the cake *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **give** | could | widow | | bit | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | | 9 | **go** | past | bit | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 10 | **travel** | present | bit *not said here* | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/2/) - next →: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/4/) - ↑ back to [The Red Ettin](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/)