---
title: Of course it would be a difficult matter, as the man who declared he… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Of course it would be a difficult matter, as the man who declared he was Omar had produced the dagger as a token, besides talking of all sorts of things which happened when he was a child. Who acts: it, man, things, Omar. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book,
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 35, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Of course it would be a difficult matter, as the man who declared he was Omar had produced the dagger as a token, besides talking of all sorts of things which happened when he was a child.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** it, man, things, Omar · **What happens:** be, declare, produce, talk, happen, sort · **To what, where:** difficult matter, man, child, things · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, man, things, Omar), 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:pg2435:35:28
# text = Of course it would be a difficult matter, as the man who declared he was Omar had produced the dagger as a token, besides talking of all sorts of things which happened when he was a child.
1	Of	of	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADV	8	advmod	_	_
2	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	fixed	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	as	as	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	nsubj	_	_
14	declared	declare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
17	Omar	Omar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	produced	produce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	ccomp	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	dagger	dagger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	as	as	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	token	token	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	besides	besides	ADP	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
27	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	30	det	_	_
30	sorts	sort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	_
33	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
34	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	acl:relcl	_	_
35	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	39	advmod	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | would | it | a difficult matter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **declare** *speech: other* | past | the man |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **produce** | past · perfect · passive |  | man |  |  |  | as a token | tree rules |
| 4 | **talk** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | of all sorts of things | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **happen** | past | things |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **is a** | past | Omar | a child |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **sort** |  |  | things |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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