---
title: "Dang it!" said the fool, and scratched his head, "that's not the ri… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: "Dang it!" said the fool, and scratched his head, "that's not the right sort o' clay sure-_ly_." Who acts: fool, that. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 8, sentence 53

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"Dang it!" said the fool, and scratched his head, "that's not the right sort o' clay sure-\_ly\_."

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**Who acts:** fool, that · **What happens:** dang, say, scratch, not be · **To what, where:** door, head, right sort · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fool, that), 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:pg14241:22:53
# text = "Dang it!" said the fool, and scratched his head, "that's not the right sort o' clay sure-_ly_."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Dang	dang	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	fool	fool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	scratched	scratch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
15	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
22	o	of	ADP	IN	Abbr=Yes	24	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	_
24	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	ly	ly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	_	_	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dang** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | door |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: express* | past | the fool |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **scratch** | past |  | rt's head |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **is a** *in a quote* | present | that | the right sort |  |  |  | of clay | 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:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (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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