---
title: And so a short answer is often spoken of as being _la-con-ic_; that… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: And so a short answer is often spoken of as being _la-con-ic_; that is, as being such an answer as a Lacon would be likely to give. Who acts: that, Lacon. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, A Laconic Answer., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, A Laconic Answer., sentence 6

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And so a short answer is often spoken of as being \_la-con-ic\_; that is, as being such an answer as a Lacon would be likely to give.

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**Who acts:** that, Lacon · **What happens:** speak, \_, be, give · **To what, where:** short answer, la con, answer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, A Laconic Answer.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (that, Lacon), 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:pg18442:35:6
# text = And so a short answer is often spoken of as being _la-con-ic_; that is, as being such an answer as a Lacon would be likely to give.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
2	so	so	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
7	often	often	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	obl	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	_	_	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	la	la	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	con	con	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	ic	ic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	27	punct	_	_
20	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	27	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
23	as	as	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
24	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	cop	_	_
25	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	27	det:predet	_	_
26	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	parataxis	_	_
28	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
30	Lacon	Lacon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
31	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	cop	_	_
33	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	acl	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | present · passive |  | a short answer |  |  |  | often *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **\_** | gerund · passive |  | la con |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  | as such answer | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | would | Lacon | such answer *not said here* |  |  |  | likely *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **give** | to-infinitive | Lacon *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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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