--- title: It would be no unpatriotic task to help to bridge over this gulf, by… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: It would be no unpatriotic task to help to bridge over this gulf, by giving a common fund of nursery literature to all classes of the English people, and, in any case, it can do no harm to add to the innocent gaiety of the nation. Who acts: reason. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacob --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/3/10/) [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/) / [\_to My Dear Little May\_](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/3/) / 10 # English Fairy Tales, \_to My Dear Little May\_, sentence 10 It would be no unpatriotic task to help to bridge over this gulf, by giving a common fund of nursery literature to all classes of the English people, and, in any case, it can do no harm to add to the innocent gaiety of the nation. **Who acts:** reason · **What happens:** be, help, give, do, add, fund · **To what, where:** unpatriotic task, bridge, gulf, common fund, classes, harm This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, \_to My Dear Little May\_. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (reason), 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:pg7439:3:10 # text = It would be no unpatriotic task to help to bridge over this gulf, by giving a common fund of nursery literature to all classes of the English people, and, in any case, it can do no harm to add to the innocent gaiety of the nation. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 2 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 3 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 6 cop _ _ 4 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 6 det _ _ 5 unpatriotic unpatriotic ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 task task NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 8 help help VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 acl _ _ 9 to to PART TO _ 10 mark _ _ 10 bridge bridge NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ _ 11 over over ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 13 det _ _ 13 gulf gulf NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 15 by by SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 16 giving give VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 8 advcl _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 18 common common ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 amod _ _ 19 fund fund NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obj _ _ 20 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 nursery nursery NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 compound _ _ 22 literature literature NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nmod _ _ 23 to to ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 25 det _ _ 25 classes class NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obl _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 28 English English ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 33 in in ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 35 det _ _ 35 case case NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 37 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 38 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 39 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 parataxis _ _ 40 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 41 det _ _ 41 harm harm NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ _ 42 to to PART TO _ 43 mark _ _ 43 add add VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 39 advcl _ _ 44 to to ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 46 innocent innocent ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 gaiety gaiety NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ _ 48 of of ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 49 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 50 nation nation NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | would | reason | no unpatriotic task | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **help** | to-infinitive | | bridge | | this gulf | | | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bridge=Beneficiary | | 3 | **give** | gerund | | a common fund of nursery literature | all classes of the English people | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent fund=Theme to class=Recipient | | 4 | **do** | can | reason | no harm | | any case | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harm=Eventuality | | 5 | **add** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | reason *not said here* | | | | | to the innocent gaiety of the nation | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle PP»: agent=Patient to gaiety=Co-Patient | | 6 | **fund** | | | nursery literature | | | | | nom fund «possession transitive»: of=patient | 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 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/3/9/) - next →: [sentence 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/3/11/) - ↑ back to [\_to My Dear Little May\_](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/3/)