---
title: The mother said to her husband "You could not have saved me from the… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The mother said to her husband "You could not have saved me from the whale but for the little cowboy; on that account I don't grudge him my daughter." Who acts: mother, husband. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Fair, Brown, and Trembling, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Fair, Brown, and Trembling, sentence 165

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The mother said to her husband "You could not have saved me from the whale but for the little cowboy; on that account I don't grudge him my daughter."

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**Who acts:** mother, husband · **What happens:** say, not save, not grudge · **To what, where:** husband, mother, cowboy, account · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Fair, Brown, and Trembling. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mother, husband), 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:pg7885:23:165
# text = The mother said to her husband "You could not have saved me from the whale but for the little cowboy; on that account I don't grudge him my daughter."
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	husband	husband	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
11	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux	_	_
12	saved	save	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
13	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	from	from	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	whale	whale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	cowboy	cowboy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	det	_	_
25	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
26	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
29	grudge	grudge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the mother |  | mother's husband |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to husband=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **save** *in a quote* | could · perfect | mother's husband *= husband* | the mother *= mother* |  |  |  | from the whale but the little cowboy | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent i=Theme from whale=Source |
| 3 | **not** **grudge** *in a quote* | present · do-support | the mother *= mother* | cowboy |  | that account |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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