---
title: If they ask, just say that the pigs belong to Count Piro; it will be… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If they ask, just say that the pigs belong to Count Piro; it will be better for everybody.” Who acts: pigs, you, ogre. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 25, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 25, sentence 123

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If they ask, just say that the pigs belong to Count Piro; it will be better for everybody.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** pigs, you, ogre · **What happens:** ask, say, belong, count, be · **To what, where:** Piro · **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 25. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (pigs, you, ogre), 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:pg2435:25:123
# text = If they ask, just say that the pigs belong to Count Piro; it will be better for everybody.”
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	ask	ask	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	pigs	pig	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	belong	belong	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	Count	count	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
13	Piro	Piro	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	cop	_	_
18	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	parataxis	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	everybody	everybody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | pigs *= pig* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **belong** | present | the pigs |  |  |  |  |  | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **count** | to-infinitive | the pigs *not said here* | Piro |  |  |  |  | vn multiply-108 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent piro=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | future | ogre |  |  |  |  | for everybody; good *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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