--- title: So his cake was very small; yet small as it was, his mother asked hi… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: So his cake was very small; yet small as it was, his mother asked him if he was willing to take the half of it with her blessing, telling him that, if he chose rather to take the whole, he would only get it with her curse. Who acts: cake, mother, bit. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Ja --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/5/) [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/) / 5 # English Fairy Tales, The Red Ettin, sentence 5 So his cake was very small; yet small as it was, his mother asked him if he was willing to take the half of it with her blessing, telling him that, if he chose rather to take the whole, he would only get it with her curse. **Who acts:** cake, mother, bit · **What happens:** be, ask, take, tell, choose, get · **To what, where:** bit, half, that, whole, cake · **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 (cake, mother, bit), 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:pg7439:26:5 # text = So his cake was very small; yet small as it was, his mother asked him if he was willing to take the half of it with her blessing, telling him that, if he chose rather to take the whole, he would only get it with her curse. 1 So so ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 2 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 3 nmod:poss _ _ 3 cake cake NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 4 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 cop _ _ 5 very very ADV RB _ 6 advmod _ _ 6 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 7 ; ; PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 8 yet yet ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ _ 9 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 appos _ _ 10 as as SCONJ IN _ 12 mark _ _ 11 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 14 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 15 mother mother NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nsubj _ _ 16 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 17 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 iobj _ _ 18 if if SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 20 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 cop _ _ 21 willing willing ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 ccomp _ _ 22 to to PART TO _ 23 mark _ _ 23 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 xcomp _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 half half NOUN NN Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 23 obj _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nmod _ _ 28 with with ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 30 blessing blessing NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 32 telling tell VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 16 conj _ _ 33 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 iobj _ _ 34 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 32 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 36 if if SCONJ IN _ 38 mark _ _ 37 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 38 chose choose VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 conj _ _ 39 rather rather ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ _ 40 to to PART TO _ 41 mark _ _ 41 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 xcomp _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 whole whole ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 48 punct _ _ 45 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 46 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 48 aux _ _ 47 only only ADV RB _ 48 advmod _ _ 48 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 41 conj _ _ 49 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 48 obj _ _ 50 with with ADP IN _ 52 case _ _ 51 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 52 nmod:poss _ _ 52 curse curse NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | bit's cake | | | | | small *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **be** | past | cake | | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | bit's mother | | bit | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 4 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | bit | | | | | willing *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **take** | to-infinitive | bit *not said here* | the half of cake | | | | with mother's blessing | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent half=Theme | | 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund | bit's mother *not said here* | that | bit | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient that=Topic | | 7 | **choose** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | bit | | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **take** | to-infinitive | bit *not said here* | the whole | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whole=Theme | | 9 | **get** | would | bit | cake | | | | with mother's curse | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | | 10 | **bless** | | mother | | | | | | nom blessing «act transitive»: poss=agent | | 11 | **curse** | | mother | | | | | | nom curse «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/4/) - next →: [sentence 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/6/) - ↑ back to [The Red Ettin](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/)