---
title: "I know," said Al-ex-an-der, "that, if you would only give me leave… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: "I know," said Al-ex-an-der, "that, if you would only give me leave to try, I could manage this horse better than any one else." Who acts: Al, you. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Alexander and Bucephalus., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, Alexander and Bucephalus., sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"I know," said Al-ex-an-der, "that, if you would only give me leave to try, I could manage this horse better than any one else."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Al, you · **What happens:** know, say, give, leave, try, manage · **To what, where:** Al, horse · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Alexander and Bucephalus.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Al, you), 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:pg18442:37:9
# text = "I know," said Al-ex-an-der, "that, if you would only give me leave to try, I could manage this horse better than any one else."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	Al	Al	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	ex	ex	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	der	der	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	list	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	only	only	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
23	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	iobj	_	_
24	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	manage	manage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
31	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	32	det	_	_
32	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	30	advmod	_	_
34	than	than	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	36	det	_	_
36	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
37	else	else	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** *in a quote* | present | Al |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Al |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **give** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | would | you |  | Al |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **leave** *in a quote* | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **try** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **manage** *in a quote* | could | Al | this horse |  |  |  | well *property* | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=Theme |

<!-- .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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