--- title: "Would it be asking too much," he went on to the beggar, "to know wh… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: "Would it be asking too much," he went on to the beggar, "to know who you are at all, or where you come from, or why you take a pleasure in plaguing a poor old man like me?" Who acts: sport, teller, you. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Story-teller At Fault, with its depende --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/20/69/) [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/) / [Celtic Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/) / [The Story-teller At Fault](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/20/) / 69 # Celtic Fairy Tales, The Story-teller At Fault, sentence 69 "Would it be asking too much," he went on to the beggar, "to know who you are at all, or where you come from, or why you take a pleasure in plaguing a poor old man like me?" **Who acts:** sport, teller, you · **What happens:** ask, go on, know, be, come, take · **To what, where:** much, all, pleasure, poor old man · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Story-teller At Fault. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sport, teller, you), 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:pg7885:20:69 # text = "Would it be asking too much," he went on to the beggar, "to know who you are at all, or where you come from, or why you take a pleasure in plaguing a poor old man like me?" 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 3 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 4 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 5 aux _ _ 5 asking ask VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 6 too too ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 7 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 9 " " PUNCT `` _ 11 punct _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 12 on on ADV RB _ 11 advmod _ _ 13 to to ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 beggar beggar NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 17 " " PUNCT `` _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 18 to to PART TO _ 19 mark _ _ 19 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 conj _ _ 20 who who PRON WP PronType=Int 19 ccomp _ _ 21 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 22 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 20 cop _ _ 23 at at ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 26 or or CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 27 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 29 advmod _ _ 28 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 come come VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 30 from from ADP IN _ 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 32 or or CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 33 why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 35 advmod _ _ 34 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 take take VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 29 conj _ _ 36 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 pleasure pleasure NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ _ 38 in in SCONJ IN _ 39 mark _ _ 39 plaguing plague VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 35 advcl _ _ 40 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 41 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 42 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 43 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ _ 44 like like ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 45 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 ? ? PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 " " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | would · progressive | sport | much | | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent much=Recipient | | 2 | **go on** | past | teller | | | | | to the beggar | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **know** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | sport *not said here* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | you | | | all | | | tree rules | | 5 | **come** *in a quote* | present | you | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **take** *in a quote* | present | you | a pleasure | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pleasure=Theme | | 7 | **plague** *in a quote* | gerund | you *not said here* | a poor old man | | | | like the story teller *= teller* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus man=Experiencer | 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:** «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. - ← previous: [sentence 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/20/68/) - next →: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/20/70/) - ↑ back to [The Story-teller At Fault](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7885/20/)