---
title: On saying this, he drew the string tight round his neck, and gave th… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: On saying this, he drew the string tight round his neck, and gave the bag such a hearty shake, that poor little Tom's legs, thighs, and body were sadly bruised. Who acts: boy, that. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The History of Tom Thumb, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# English Fairy Tales, The History of Tom Thumb, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On saying this, he drew the string tight round his neck, and gave the bag such a hearty shake, that poor little Tom's legs, thighs, and body were sadly bruised.

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**Who acts:** boy, that · **What happens:** say, draw, give, leg, bruise · **To what, where:** this, string, bag, body · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The History of Tom Thumb. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, that), 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:pg7439:28:17
# text = On saying this, he drew the string tight round his neck, and gave the bag such a hearty shake, that poor little Tom's legs, thighs, and body were sadly bruised.
1	On	on	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
3	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	string	string	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	tight	tight	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
10	round	round	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	21	det:predet	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	hearty	hearty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	shake	shake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	nsubj	_	_
24	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
25	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
26	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	's	's	PART	POS	_	26	case	_	_
28	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	thighs	thigh	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
34	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux:pass	_	_
35	sadly	sadly	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	bruised	bruise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | boy *not said here* | this |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent this=Topic |
| 2 | **draw** | past | boy | the string |  |  |  | round boy's neck; tight *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent string=Theme |
| 3 | **give** | past | boy *not said here* | the bag |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent bag=Recipient shake=Theme |
| 4 | **leg** |  | that |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **bruise** | past · passive |  | body |  |  |  | sadly *property* | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

<!-- .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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