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