--- title: But the gentleman burst out a-laughing, and reached up and pulled ou… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: But the gentleman burst out a-laughing, and reached up and pulled out the mallet, and then he said: “I've travelled many miles, and I never met three such big sillies as you three before; and now I shall start out on my travels again, and when I can find three bigger sillies than you three, then I'l --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/7/23/) [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/) / [The Three Sillies](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/7/) / 23 # English Fairy Tales, The Three Sillies, sentence 23 But the gentleman burst out a-laughing, and reached up and pulled out the mallet, and then he said: “I've travelled many miles, and I never met three such big sillies as you three before; and now I shall start out on my travels again, and when I can find three bigger sillies than you three, then I'll come back and marry your daughter.” **Who acts:** gentleman · **What happens:** burst out, laugh, reach up, pull out, say, travell · **To what, where:** mallet, many miles, three such big sillies, three bigger sillies, daughter · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Three Sillies. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (gentleman), 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:pg7439:7:23 # text = But the gentleman burst out a-laughing, and reached up and pulled out the mallet, and then he said: “I've travelled many miles, and I never met three such big sillies as you three before; and now I shall start out on my travels again, and when I can find three bigger sillies than you three, then I'll come back and marry your daughter.” 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 gentleman gentleman NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 burst burst VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 out out ADP RP _ 4 compound:prt _ _ 6 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ SpaceAfter=No 7 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 8 laughing laugh VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 4 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 reached reach VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 12 up up ADP RP _ 11 compound:prt _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 14 pulled pull VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 conj _ _ 15 out out ADP RP _ 14 compound:prt _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 mallet mallet NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 20 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 22 advmod _ _ 21 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 : : PUNCT : _ 27 punct _ _ 24 “ " PUNCT `` _ 27 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 25 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 26 've have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 27 aux _ _ 27 travelled travell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 22 conj _ _ 28 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 miles mile NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 32 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 34 advmod _ _ 34 met meet VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 conj _ _ 35 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 38 nummod _ _ 36 such such ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 37 big big ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 sillies silly NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 obj _ _ 39 as as ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 41 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 34 obl _ _ 42 before before ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 43 ; ; PUNCT : _ 48 punct _ _ 44 and and CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 45 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 48 advmod _ _ 46 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 47 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 48 aux _ _ 48 start start VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 conj _ _ 49 out out ADP RP _ 48 compound:prt _ _ 50 on on SCONJ IN _ 52 mark _ _ 51 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 52 nmod:poss _ _ 52 travels travel VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 48 advcl _ _ 53 again again ADV RB _ 52 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 54 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 55 and and CCONJ CC _ 59 cc _ _ 56 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 59 advmod _ _ 57 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 59 nsubj _ _ 58 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 59 aux _ _ 59 find find VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 48 parataxis _ _ 60 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 62 nummod _ _ 61 bigger big ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 62 amod _ _ 62 sillies silly NOUN NNS Number=Plur 59 obj _ _ 63 than than ADP IN _ 64 case _ _ 64 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 62 nmod _ _ 65 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 62 flat _ SpaceAfter=No 66 , , PUNCT , _ 70 punct _ _ 67 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 70 advmod _ _ 68 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 70 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 69 'll will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 70 aux _ _ 70 come come VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 59 conj _ _ 71 back back ADV RB _ 70 advmod _ _ 72 and and CCONJ CC _ 73 cc _ _ 73 marry marry VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 70 conj _ _ 74 your your PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 75 nmod:poss _ _ 75 daughter daughter NOUN NN Number=Sing 73 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 76 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 77 ” " PUNCT '' _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **burst out** | past | the gentleman | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **laugh** | gerund | the gentleman *not said here* | | | | | | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **reach up** | past | the gentleman *not said here* | | | | | | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **pull out** | participle | the gentleman *not said here* | the mallet | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | gentleman | | | | then | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **travell** *in a quote* | present · perfect | gentleman | many miles | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **not** **meet** *in a quote* | past | gentleman | three such big sillies | | | | as three | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent silly=Co-Agent | | 8 | **start out** *in a quote* | shall | gentleman | | | | now | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 9 | **travel** *in a quote* | present | gentleman *not said here* | | | | again | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 10 | **find** *in a quote* | can | gentleman | three bigger sillies | | | | than you | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent silly=Topic | | 11 | **come back** *in a quote* | future | gentleman | | | | then | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 12 | **marry** *in a quote* | infinitive | gentleman *not said here* | your daughter | | | | | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent daughter=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 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/7/22/) - next →: [sentence 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/7/24/) - ↑ back to [The Three Sillies](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7439/7/)