---
title: “The crow was it?” said the fox, “well, the crow had better not meet… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “The crow was it?” said the fox, “well, the crow had better not meet me for the future, or it may be the worse for him.” Who acts: crow, fox. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 24, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 24, sentence 89

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“The crow was it?” said the fox, “well, the crow had better not meet me for the future, or it may be the worse for him.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** crow, fox · **What happens:** be, say, have, not meet · **To what, where:** crow, fox · **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 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (crow, fox), 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:pg2435:24:89
# text = “The crow was it?” said the fox, “well, the crow had better not meet me for the future, or it may be the worse for him.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	crow	crow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	well	well	INTJ	UH	_	17	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	crow	crow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
18	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	20	advmod	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
21	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	future	future	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
28	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	cop	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	17	conj	_	_
32	for	for	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | the crow | crow |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | the fox |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **have** *in a quote* | past | the crow |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **meet** *in a quote* | infinitive | the crow *not said here* | the fox *= fox* |  |  |  | for the future; well *property* | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Co-Agent |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | may | crow |  |  |  |  | for fox; bad *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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