--- title: Then he took his brother aside, and gave him a knife to keep till he… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Then he took his brother aside, and gave him a knife to keep till he should come back, desiring him to look at it every morning, and as long as it continued to be clear, then he might be sure that the owner of it was well; but if it grew dim and rusty, then for certain some ill had befallen him. Who --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/7/) [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/) / 7 # English Fairy Tales, The Red Ettin, sentence 7 Then he took his brother aside, and gave him a knife to keep till he should come back, desiring him to look at it every morning, and as long as it continued to be clear, then he might be sure that the owner of it was well; but if it grew dim and rusty, then for certain some ill had befallen him. **Who acts:** man, knife, owner, ill · **What happens:** take, give, keep, come back, desire, look · **To what, where:** brother, knife, man 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, knife, owner, ill), 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:pg7439:26:7 # text = Then he took his brother aside, and gave him a knife to keep till he should come back, desiring him to look at it every morning, and as long as it continued to be clear, then he might be sure that the owner of it was well; but if it grew dim and rusty, then for certain some ill had befallen him. 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 3 advmod _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 5 nmod:poss _ _ 5 brother brother NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ 6 aside aside ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 8 and and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 9 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 10 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 iobj _ _ 11 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 knife knife NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 13 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 14 keep keep VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 advcl _ _ 15 till till SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 16 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 17 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 18 aux _ _ 18 come come VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 ccomp _ _ 19 back back ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 21 desiring desire VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 18 advcl _ _ 22 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 obj _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 24 look look VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 advcl _ _ 25 at at ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 26 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 obl _ _ 27 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 28 det _ _ 28 morning morning NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 31 as as ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 long long ADV RB Degree=Pos 35 advmod _ _ 33 as as SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 continued continue VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 37 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 38 cop _ _ 38 clear clear ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 40 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 44 advmod _ _ 41 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 nsubj _ _ 42 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 44 aux _ _ 43 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 44 cop _ _ 44 sure sure ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 conj _ _ 45 that that SCONJ IN _ 51 mark _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 47 owner owner NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 nsubj _ _ 48 of of ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 49 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 47 nmod _ _ 50 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 51 cop _ _ 51 well well ADV RB Degree=Pos 44 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 52 ; ; PUNCT , _ 56 punct _ _ 53 but but CCONJ CC _ 56 cc _ _ 54 if if SCONJ IN _ 56 mark _ _ 55 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 56 nsubj _ _ 56 grew grow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 57 dim dim ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 56 xcomp _ _ 58 and and CCONJ CC _ 59 cc _ _ 59 rusty rusty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 57 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 60 , , PUNCT , _ 63 punct _ _ 61 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 63 advmod _ _ 62 for for ADP IN _ 63 case _ _ 63 certain certain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 56 conj _ _ 64 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 65 det _ _ 65 ill ill ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 67 nsubj _ _ 66 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 67 aux _ _ 67 befallen befall VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 63 ccomp _ _ 68 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 67 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 69 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **take** | past | man | | man's brother | | then | aside *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument brother=Destination | | 2 | **give** | past | man *not said here* | a knife | man | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient knife=Theme | | 3 | **keep** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **come back** | should | man | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **desire** | gerund | man *not said here* | man | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot he=Theme | | 6 | **look** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | | | | morning | at knife | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at it=Theme | | 7 | **continue** | past | knife | | | | | long *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **is** | to-infinitive | knife *not said here* | | | | | clear *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **is** | might | man | | | | then | sure *property* | tree rules | | 10 | **is** | past | the owner of knife | | | | | well *property* | tree rules | | 11 | **grow** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | owner | | | | | dim *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 12 | **befall** | past · perfect | some ill | man | | | | | tree rules | 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 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/6/) - next →: [sentence 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/8/) - ↑ back to [The Red Ettin](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/26/)