---
title: "Will the sea obey me?" he asked; and he looked down at the little w… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: "Will the sea obey me?" he asked; and he looked down at the little waves which were lapping the sand at his feet. Who acts: sea, little waves. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, King Canute on the Seashore., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, King Canute on the Seashore., sentence 16

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"Will the sea obey me?" he asked; and he looked down at the little waves which were lapping the sand at his feet.

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**Who acts:** sea, little waves · **What happens:** obey, ask, look down, lap · **To what, where:** sea, sand, feet · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, King Canute on the Seashore.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sea, little waves), 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:pg18442:5:16
# text = "Will the sea obey me?" he asked; and he looked down at the little waves which were lapping the sand at his feet.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	obey	obey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
6	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
15	down	down	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	lapping	lap	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	acl:relcl	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **obey** *in a quote* | future | the sea | sea |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | sea |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **look down** | past | sea |  |  |  |  | at the little waves | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at wave=Theme |
| 4 | **lap** | past · progressive | the little waves | the sand |  | sea's feet |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sand=Patient |

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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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