---
title: “Oh, certainly,” replied the crab, “but you must forgive me if I can… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “Oh, certainly,” replied the crab, “but you must forgive me if I cannot get them for you myself. Who acts: crab, you. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32, sentence 71

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“Oh, certainly,” replied the crab, “but you must forgive me if I cannot get them for you myself.

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**Who acts:** crab, you · **What happens:** reply, forgive, not get · **To what, where:** crab · **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 32. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (crab, you), 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:pg2435:32:71
# text = “Oh, certainly,” replied the crab, “but you must forgive me if I cannot get them for you myself.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
7	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	forgive	forgive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
16	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	_
25	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	21	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the crab |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **forgive** *in a quote* | must | you | the crab *= crab* |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **get** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | can | the crab *= crab* | Crab |  |  |  | for you; myself *obl:unmarked* | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent they=Theme for you=Beneficiary |

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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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