---
title: Jack took the cat, and began carrying it very carefully in his hands… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Jack took the cat, and began carrying it very carefully in his hands, but in a short time pussy scratched him so much that he was compelled to let it go. Who acts: Jack, cat. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Lazy Jack, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Lazy Jack, sentence 18

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Jack took the cat, and began carrying it very carefully in his hands, but in a short time pussy scratched him so much that he was compelled to let it go.

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**Who acts:** Jack, cat · **What happens:** take, begin, carry, scratch, compel, let · **To what, where:** cat, hands, Jack, short time pussy

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Lazy Jack. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Jack, cat), 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:pg7439:34:18
# text = Jack took the cat, and began carrying it very carefully in his hands, but in a short time pussy scratched him so much that he was compelled to let it go.
1	Jack	Jack	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	xcomp	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	very	very	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	carefully	carefully	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
19	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
20	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	pussy	pussy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
22	scratched	scratch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	much	much	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	compelled	compel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	advcl	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | Jack |  | the cat |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument cat=Destination |
| 2 | **begin** | past | Jack *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **carry** | gerund | Jack *not said here* | cat |  | Jack's hands |  | carefully *property* | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Value in hand=Location |
| 4 | **scratch** | past | Jack *not said here* | Jack |  | a short time pussy |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme in pussy=Destination |
| 5 | **compel** | past · passive |  | Jack |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **let** | to-infinitive |  | cat |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **go** | infinitive | cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP 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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