---
title: "I was afraid of thieves; and you see, if I have the door with me, t… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: "I was afraid of thieves; and you see, if I have the door with me, they can't break it open and get in." Who acts: sheriff, you, thieves. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Other Wise Men of Gotham., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, Other Wise Men of Gotham., sentence 57

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"I was afraid of thieves; and you see, if I have the door with me, they can't break it open and get in."

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**Who acts:** sheriff, you, thieves · **What happens:** be, see, have, not break, open, get in · **To what, where:** door

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This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Other Wise Men of Gotham.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sheriff, you, thieves), 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:pg18442:15:57
# text = "I was afraid of thieves; and you see, if I have the door with me, they can't break it open and get in."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	thieves	thief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	open	open	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
28	in	in	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | past | the sheriff *= sheriff* |  |  |  |  | of thieves; afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | the sheriff *= sheriff* | the door |  |  |  | with the sheriff *= sheriff* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent door=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **break** *in a quote* | can | thieves *= thief* | door |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **open** *in a quote* | infinitive | thieves *= thief* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **get in** *in a quote* | infinitive | thieves *= thief* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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:** «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 18442 (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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