---
title: If they ask, just say they are Count Piro’s; it will be better for e… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If they ask, just say they are Count Piro’s; it will be better for everybody.” Who acts: paws, you, crowd. 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 135

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If they ask, just say they are Count Piro’s; it will be better for everybody.”

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**Who acts:** paws, you, crowd · **What happens:** ask, say, be · **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 (paws, you, crowd), 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:pg2435:25:135
# text = If they ask, just say they are Count Piro’s; 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	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	Count	Count	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	Piro	Piro	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’s	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
16	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	parataxis	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	everybody	everybody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | paws *= paw* |  |  |  |  |  | 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 |
| 3 | **is** | present | paws *= paw* |  |  |  |  | 's Count Piro | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | future | crowd |  |  |  |  | for everybody; good *property* | tree rules |

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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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