---
title: King Arthur one day asked Tom about his parents, wishing to know if… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: King Arthur one day asked Tom about his parents, wishing to know if they were as small as he was, and whether they were well off. Who acts: King Arthur, parents, 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 40

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King Arthur one day asked Tom about his parents, wishing to know if they were as small as he was, and whether they were well off.

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**Who acts:** King Arthur, parents, Tom · **What happens:** ask, wish, know, be · **To what, where:** 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 (King Arthur, parents, Tom), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg7439:28:40
# text = King Arthur one day asked Tom about his parents, wishing to know if they were as small as he was, and whether they were well off.
1	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	Arthur	Arthur	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	appos	_	_
5	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	iobj	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	wishing	wish	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	as	as	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	ccomp	_	_
19	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
24	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	28	advmod	_	_
28	off	off	ADV	RB	_	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | King Arthur |  | Tom |  |  | about Tom's parents | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent tom=Recipient about parent=Topic |
| 2 | **wish** | gerund | King Arthur *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **know** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | King Arthur *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | parents *= parent* |  |  |  |  | small *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** | past | Tom |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **is** | past | parents *= parent* |  |  |  |  | off, well *property* | tree rules |

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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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