---
title: “I may not let you out,” replied the boy, “for if I do my stepfather… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “I may not let you out,” replied the boy, “for if I do my stepfather says that I shall have to die a horrible death when he returns from the war. Who acts: boy. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 87

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I may not let you out,” replied the boy, “for if I do my stepfather says that I shall have to die a horrible death when he returns from the war.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** boy · **What happens:** not let out, reply, do, say, have, die · **To what, where:** you, stepfather, horrible death, war · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy), 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:pg2435:20:87
# text = “I may not let you out,” replied the boy, “for if I do my stepfather says that I shall have to die a horrible death when he returns from the war.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
6	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	out	out	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
10	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
19	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	stepfather	stepfather	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
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	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	ccomp	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	horrible	horrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
31	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	33	mark	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	returns	return	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
34	from	from	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **let out** *in a quote* | may | the boy *= boy* | you |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Theme |
| 2 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **do** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | the boy *= boy* | my stepfather |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stepfather=Eventuality |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | the boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **have** *in a quote* | shall | the boy *= boy* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **die** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the boy *= boy* *not said here* | a horrible death |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **return** *in a quote* | present | boy |  |  | the war |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from war=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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:** «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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