--- title: Little Dick was all night in the streets; and next morning, being ve… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Little Dick was all night in the streets; and next morning, being very hungry, he got up and walked about, and asked everybody he met to give him a halfpenny to keep him from starving; but nobody stayed to answer him, and only two or three gave him a halfpenny; so that the poor boy was soon quite we --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/37/9/) [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/) / [Whittington and His Cat](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/37/) / 9 # English Fairy Tales, Whittington and His Cat, sentence 9 Little Dick was all night in the streets; and next morning, being very hungry, he got up and walked about, and asked everybody he met to give him a halfpenny to keep him from starving; but nobody stayed to answer him, and only two or three gave him a halfpenny; so that the poor boy was soon quite weak and faint for the want of victuals. **Who acts:** Little Dick, Dick, nobody, two, poor boy · **What happens:** be, get up, walk, ask, meet, give · **To what, where:** night, streets, everybody, halfpenny, Dick, victuals · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Little Dick, Dick, nobody, two), 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:pg7439:37:9 # text = Little Dick was all night in the streets; and next morning, being very hungry, he got up and walked about, and asked everybody he met to give him a halfpenny to keep him from starving; but nobody stayed to answer him, and only two or three gave him a halfpenny; so that the poor boy was soon quite weak and faint for the want of victuals. 1 Little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 amod _ _ 2 Dick Dick PROPN NNP Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 5 det _ _ 5 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 6 in in ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 streets street NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 ; ; PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 11 next next ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 12 amod _ _ 12 morning morning NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 14 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 16 cop _ _ 15 very very ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 16 hungry hungry ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 got get VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 parataxis _ _ 20 up up ADP RP _ 19 compound:prt _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 walked walk VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 conj _ _ 23 about about ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 26 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 conj _ _ 27 everybody everybody PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Tot 26 iobj _ _ 28 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 met meet VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 ccomp _ _ 30 to to PART TO _ 31 mark _ _ 31 give give VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 29 xcomp _ _ 32 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 iobj _ _ 33 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 halfpenny halfpenny NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obj _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 keep keep VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 advcl _ _ 37 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obj _ _ 38 from from SCONJ IN _ 39 mark _ _ 39 starving starve VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 36 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 ; ; PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 41 but but CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 42 nobody nobody PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 43 nsubj _ _ 43 stayed stay VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 parataxis _ _ 44 to to PART TO _ 45 mark _ _ 45 answer answer VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 43 advcl _ _ 46 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 , , PUNCT , _ 53 punct _ _ 48 and and CCONJ CC _ 53 cc _ _ 49 only only ADV RB _ 50 advmod _ _ 50 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 53 nsubj _ _ 51 or or CCONJ CC _ 52 cc _ _ 52 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 50 conj _ _ 53 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 conj _ _ 54 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 53 iobj _ _ 55 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 56 det _ _ 56 halfpenny halfpenny NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 57 ; ; PUNCT : _ 66 punct _ _ 58 so so SCONJ IN _ 66 mark _ _ 59 that that SCONJ IN _ 66 mark _ _ 60 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 62 det _ _ 61 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 62 amod _ _ 62 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 66 nsubj _ _ 63 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 66 cop _ _ 64 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 66 advmod _ _ 65 quite quite ADV RB _ 66 advmod _ _ 66 weak weak ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 conj _ _ 67 and and CCONJ CC _ 68 cc _ _ 68 faint faint ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 66 conj _ _ 69 for for ADP IN _ 71 case _ _ 70 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 71 det _ _ 71 want want NOUN NN Number=Sing 66 obl _ _ 72 of of ADP IN _ 73 case _ _ 73 victuals victual NOUN NNS Number=Plur 71 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 74 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | Little Dick | all night | | the streets | | | tree rules | | 2 | **is** | gerund | | | | | | hungry *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **get up** | past | Dick | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 4 | **walk** | past | Dick *not said here* | | | | | about *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Dick *not said here* | | everybody | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent everybody=Recipient clause=Topic | | 6 | **meet** | past | Dick | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **give** | to-infinitive | Dick *not said here* | a halfpenny | Dick | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient halfpenny=Theme | | 8 | **keep** | to-infinitive | Dick *not said here* | Dick | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | | 9 | **starve** | gerund | Dick *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 10 | **stay** | past | nobody | | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 11 | **answer** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | nobody *not said here* | | Dick | | | | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent he=Eventuality | | 12 | **give** | past | two | a halfpenny | Dick | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient halfpenny=Theme | | 13 | **is** | past | the poor boy | | | | | for the want of victuals; soon, weak *property* | tree rules | | 14 | **be** | | the poor boy *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 15 | **want** | | | victuals | | | | | nom want «state 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 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/37/8/) - next →: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/37/10/) - ↑ back to [Whittington and His Cat](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/37/)