---
title: “Oh yes,” said they, “very offensive, and the king would give half h… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “Oh yes,” said they, “very offensive, and the king would give half his treasure to be freed of them, for they not only destroy his dinner, as you see, but they assault him in his chamber, and even in bed, and so that he is obliged to be watched while he is sleeping, for fear of them.” Who acts: verm
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Whittington and His Cat, sentence 61

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Oh yes,” said they, “very offensive, and the king would give half his treasure to be freed of them, for they not only destroy his dinner, as you see, but they assault him in his chamber, and even in bed, and so that he is obliged to be watched while he is sleeping, for fear of them.”

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**Who acts:** vermin, king, you · **What happens:** say, give, free, not destroy, see, assault · **To what, where:** treasure, dinner, King, chamber, vermin · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Whittington and His Cat. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (vermin, king, you), 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:pg7439:37:61
# text = “Oh yes,” said they, “very offensive, and the king would give half his treasure to be freed of them, for they not only destroy his dinner, as you see, but they assault him in his chamber, and even in bed, and so that he is obliged to be watched while he is sleeping, for fear of them.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	6	discourse	_	_
3	yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	2	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	very	very	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	offensive	offensive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
18	half	half	DET	PDT	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac|PronType=Ind	20	det:predet	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	treasure	treasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
22	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	freed	free	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	advcl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
27	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
30	only	only	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	advcl	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
36	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
40	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
41	assault	assault	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
42	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	chamber	chamber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
47	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
48	even	even	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
49	in	in	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
53	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	57	mark	_	_
54	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	53	fixed	_	_
55	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
56	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	57	aux:pass	_	_
57	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	60	mark	_	_
59	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	60	aux:pass	_	_
60	watched	watch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	57	xcomp	_	_
61	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	64	mark	_	_
62	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
63	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	64	aux	_	_
64	sleeping	sleep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	60	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
66	for	for	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
67	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	conj	_	_
68	of	of	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
69	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	67	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | vermin |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **give** *in a quote* | would | the king | King's treasure |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent treasure=Theme |
| 3 | **free** *in a quote* | to-infinitive · passive | the king *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of vermin | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: of they=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **destroy** *in a quote* | infinitive | vermin | King's dinner |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinner=Patient |
| 5 | **see** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **assault** *in a quote* | present | vermin | King |  | King's chamber |  | in bed | vn attack-60.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 7 | **oblige** *in a quote* | present · passive |  | King |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result |
| 8 | **watch** *in a quote* | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location» |
| 9 | **sleep** *in a quote* | present · progressive | King |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **treasure** *in a quote* |  | King |  |  |  |  |  | nom treasure «possession transitive»: poss=agent |
| 11 | **fear** *in a quote* |  |  | vermin |  |  |  |  | nom fear «feeling transitive»: of=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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