---
title: His mother began to cry and wring her hands; but the cow, surprised… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: His mother began to cry and wring her hands; but the cow, surprised at the odd noise in her throat, opened her mouth and let Tom drop out. Who acts: mother, cow, Tom. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The History of Tom Thumb, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# English Fairy Tales, The History of Tom Thumb, sentence 31

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His mother began to cry and wring her hands; but the cow, surprised at the odd noise in her throat, opened her mouth and let Tom drop out.

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**Who acts:** mother, cow, Tom · **What happens:** begin, cry, wring, surprise, open, let · **To what, where:** hands, cow, odd noise, mouth, Tom

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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 (mother, cow, Tom), 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:pg7439:28:31
# text = His mother began to cry and wring her hands; but the cow, surprised at the odd noise in her throat, opened her mouth and let Tom drop out.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	cry	cry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	wring	wring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
8	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	surprised	surprise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	odd	odd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	throat	throat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
24	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
25	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
29	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
30	drop	drop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	out	out	ADP	RP	_	30	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | Tommy's mother |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **cry** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | Tommy's mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **wring** | infinitive | Tommy's mother *not said here* | mother's hands |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Patient |
| 4 | **surprise** | participle |  | the cow *not said here* |  | the odd noise in mother's throat |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **open** | past | the cow | mother's mouth |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location mouth=Theme |
| 6 | **let** | infinitive | the cow *not said here* | Tom |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **drop out** | infinitive | Tom *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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