---
title: "Indeed, there may be little reason," said he; "but, small as the pl… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: "Indeed, there may be little reason," said he; "but, small as the place is, I shall think myself happy if I can fill even it with true friends." Who acts: you, man. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Socrates and His House., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, Socrates and His House., sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Indeed, there may be little reason," said he; "but, small as the place is, I shall think myself happy if I can fill even it with true friends."

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**Who acts:** you, man · **What happens:** be, say, think, fill · **To what, where:** Indeed little reason, man, reason · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Socrates and His House.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, man), 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:pg18442:40:5
# text = "Indeed, there may be little reason," said he; "but, small as the place is, I shall think myself happy if I can fill even it with true friends."
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Indeed	indeed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
5	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	parataxis	_	_
18	as	as	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
26	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	25	obj	_	_
27	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	xcomp	_	_
28	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	fill	fill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	_
32	even	even	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	_
34	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | imperative | you *not said here* | Indeed little reason |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | as the place; small *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | shall | man | man |  |  |  | happy *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot myself=Theme |
| 5 | **fill** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | can | man | reason |  |  |  | with true friends | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with friend=Instrument |

<!-- .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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