---
title: She tried to put the knife to the throat of the babe, and the babe b… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: She tried to put the knife to the throat of the babe, and the babe began to laugh in her face, and she began to cry, and she threw the knife behind her. Who acts: woman, babe. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Conall Yellowclaw, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, Conall Yellowclaw, sentence 168

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She tried to put the knife to the throat of the babe, and the babe began to laugh in her face, and she began to cry, and she threw the knife behind her.

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**Who acts:** woman, babe · **What happens:** try, put, begin, laugh, cry, throw · **To what, where:** knife

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Conall Yellowclaw. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (woman, babe), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg7885:9:168
# text = She tried to put the knife to the throat of the babe, and the babe began to laugh in her face, and she began to cry, and she threw the knife behind her.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	throat	throat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	babe	babe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	babe	babe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	laugh	laugh	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	cry	cry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **put** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | woman *not said here* | the knife |  |  |  | to the throat of the babe | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent knife=Goal |
| 3 | **begin** | past | the babe |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **laugh** | to-infinitive | the babe *not said here* |  |  |  |  | in woman's face | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in face=Theme |
| 5 | **begin** | past | woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **cry** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | woman *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **throw** | past | woman | the knife |  |  |  | behind babe | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent knife=Theme behind she=Destination |

<!-- .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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