---
title: “What am I to say to his Majesty, little fox?” he asked anxiously; “… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “What am I to say to his Majesty, little fox?” he asked anxiously; “you know that I have never spoken to a king before.” Who acts: fox, you, horse dealer. 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 clau
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 25, sentence 85

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“What am I to say to his Majesty, little fox?” he asked anxiously; “you know that I have never spoken to a king before.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** fox, you, horse dealer · **What happens:** say, ask, know, not speak · **To what, where:** Majesty · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (fox, you, horse dealer), 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:pg2435:25:85
# text = “What am I to say to his Majesty, little fox?” he asked anxiously; “you know that I have never spoken to a king before.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obj	_	_
3	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	Majesty	Majesty	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
17	anxiously	anxiously	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
19	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	ccomp	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	before	before	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present | fox |  | fox's Majesty |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | fox |  |  |  |  | anxiously *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **know** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present · perfect | a horse dealer *= dealer* |  |  |  |  | to a king; before *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to king=Co-Agent |

<!-- .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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