---
title: “I suppose we shall have to eat the smallest of us,” replied the bea… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “I suppose we shall have to eat the smallest of us,” replied the bear, and the marten turned round to seize the squirrel who was much smaller than any of the rest. Who acts: bear, we, marten, squirrel. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 24, with its d
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 24, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I suppose we shall have to eat the smallest of us,” replied the bear, and the marten turned round to seize the squirrel who was much smaller than any of the rest.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bear, we, marten, squirrel · **What happens:** suppose, have, eat, reply, turn round, seize · **To what, where:** smallest, squirrel · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bear, we, marten, squirrel), 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:pg2435:24:36
# text = “I suppose we shall have to eat the smallest of us,” replied the bear, and the marten turned round to seize the squirrel who was much smaller than any of the rest.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	suppose	suppose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	smallest	small	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
15	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	marten	marten	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
23	round	round	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	seize	seize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	squirrel	squirrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
30	much	much	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	smaller	small	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	27	amod	_	_
32	than	than	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	31	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suppose** *in a quote* | present | the bear *= bear* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **have** *in a quote* | shall | we |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **eat** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | the smallest |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent small=Patient |
| 4 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the bear |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **turn round** | past | the marten |  |  |  |  | round *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **seize** | to-infinitive | the marten *not said here* | the squirrel |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent squirrel=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | past | the squirrel |  |  |  |  | than any; small *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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