---
title: "Would you tell a body," says the cock that was perched on the ass's… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: "Would you tell a body," says the cock that was perched on the ass's head, "who was it that opened the door for the robbers the other night?" Who acts: you, cock, body. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Jack and His Comrades, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Jack and His Comrades, sentence 98

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Would you tell a body," says the cock that was perched on the ass's head, "who was it that opened the door for the robbers the other night?"

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, cock, body · **What happens:** tell, say, perch, be, open · **To what, where:** body, cock, head, door · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Jack and His Comrades. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, cock, body), 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:pg7885:18:98
# text = "Would you tell a body," says the cock that was perched on the ass's head, "who was it that opened the door for the robbers the other night?"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
9	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cock	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	perched	perch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl:relcl	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	ass	ass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	's	's	PART	POS	_	17	case	_	_
19	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
26	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	robbers	robber	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | would | you | a body |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent body=Recipient |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | present | the cock |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **perch** | past · passive |  | the cock |  | the ass's head |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on head=Destination |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | past |  | body |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **open** *in a quote* | past | body | the door |  |  | night | for the robbers | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location door=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:** «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7885 (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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