--- title: "Fair sir," said one of the men, "answer me this question: If, inste… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics description: "Fair sir," said one of the men, "answer me this question: If, instead of being a boy, it had pleased God that you should be a bird, what kind of a bird would you rather be?" Who acts: one, boy, that, you. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, The Sons of William the Conquero --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/6/13/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fifty Famous Stories Retold](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/) / [The Sons of William the Conqueror.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/6/) / 13 # Fifty Famous Stories Retold, The Sons of William the Conqueror., sentence 13 "Fair sir," said one of the men, "answer me this question: If, instead of being a boy, it had pleased God that you should be a bird, what kind of a bird would you rather be?" **Who acts:** one, boy, that, you · **What happens:** say, answer, be, have · **To what, where:** question, me, pleased God, bird, kind · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, The Sons of William the Conqueror.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one, boy, that, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg18442:6:13 # text = "Fair sir," said one of the men, "answer me this question: If, instead of being a boy, it had pleased God that you should be a bird, what kind of a bird would you rather be?" 1 " " PUNCT `` _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Fair fair ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 sir sir NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 " " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ 6 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 6 nsubj _ _ 8 of of ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 men man NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 12 " " PUNCT `` _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 answer answer VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 conj _ _ 14 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 13 obj _ _ 15 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 16 det _ _ 16 question question NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 17 : : PUNCT : _ 27 punct _ _ 18 If if SCONJ IN _ 27 mark _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 20 instead instead ADV RB ExtPos=ADP 24 case _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 20 fixed _ _ 22 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 24 cop _ _ 23 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 26 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 27 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 ccomp _ _ 28 pleased pleased ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 God God PROPN NNP Number=Sing 27 obj _ _ 30 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 35 nsubj _ _ 31 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 32 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 33 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 35 cop _ _ 34 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 37 what what DET WDT PronType=Int 38 det _ _ 38 kind kind NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obl _ _ 39 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nmod _ _ 42 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 43 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 44 rather rather ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 45 be be VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 ? ? PUNCT . _ 27 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 " " PUNCT '' _ 27 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | one of the men | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **answer** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | infinitive | one of the men *not said here* | this question | me | | | | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent i=Theme question=Eventuality | | 3 | **is** *in a quote* | gerund | | | | | | instead a boy | tree rules | | 4 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past | a boy | pleased God | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent god=Patient | | 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | should | that | a bird | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **be** *in a quote* | would | you | what kind of a bird | | | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/6/12/) - next →: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/6/14/) - ↑ back to [The Sons of William the Conqueror.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/6/)