--- title: “Dear me, I have nothing of any importance to tell you,” said the ol… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: “Dear me, I have nothing of any importance to tell you,” said the old man, “and I am sure we should never have made so bold as to trouble you at all if it hadn’t been for the youngest of our two sons here.” Who acts: old man, we, history. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Cr --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/30/95/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/30/) / 95 # The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 30, sentence 95 “Dear me, I have nothing of any importance to tell you,” said the old man, “and I am sure we should never have made so bold as to trouble you at all if it hadn’t been for the youngest of our two sons here.” **Who acts:** old man, we, history · **What happens:** have, tell, say, be, not make · **To what, where:** nothing, you, all · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, we, history), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2435:30:95 # text = “Dear me, I have nothing of any importance to tell you,” said the old man, “and I am sure we should never have made so bold as to trouble you at all if it hadn’t been for the youngest of our two sons here.” 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Dear dear ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 advcl _ _ 3 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 2 iobj _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 6 punct _ _ 5 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 have have VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 16 ccomp _ _ 7 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 6 obj _ _ 8 of of ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 10 det _ _ 10 importance importance NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nmod _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 7 acl _ _ 13 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 12 iobj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 ” " PUNCT '' _ 6 punct _ _ 16 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 18 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 amod _ _ 19 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 21 “ " PUNCT `` _ 25 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 23 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 24 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 25 cop _ _ 25 sure sure ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 conj _ _ 26 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 27 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 28 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 30 advmod _ _ 29 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 30 aux _ _ 30 made make VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 25 ccomp _ _ 31 so so ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 bold bold ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 xcomp _ _ 33 as as ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 to to PART TO _ 35 mark _ _ 35 trouble trouble NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ _ 36 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 30 obl _ _ 37 at at ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 30 obl _ _ 39 if if SCONJ IN _ 46 mark _ _ 40 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 nsubj _ _ 41 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 42 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 46 advmod _ _ 43 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 46 cop _ _ 44 for for ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 youngest young ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 30 xcomp _ _ 47 of of ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 48 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 50 nmod:poss _ _ 49 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 50 nummod _ _ 50 sons son NOUN NNS Number=Plur 46 nmod _ _ 51 here here ADV RB PronType=Dem 50 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 53 ” " PUNCT '' _ 16 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** *in a quote* | present | the old man *= man* | nothing | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Patient | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the old man *= man* *not said here* | nothing *not said here* | you | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient | | 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the old man | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the old man *= man* | | | | | sure *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **not** **make** *in a quote* | should · perfect | we | you | | all | | bold *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | past · perfect | history | | | | | of our two sons; young *property* | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 94](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/30/94/) - next →: [sentence 96](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/30/96/) - ↑ back to [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/30/)