---
title: Of course that is what they always say, but this time it happened to… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Of course that is what they always say, but this time it happened to be true. Who acts: that, people, time. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 37, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 37, sentence 11

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Of course that is what they always say, but this time it happened to be true.

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**Who acts:** that, people, time · **What happens:** be, say, happen · **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 37. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (that, people, time), 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:pg2435:37:11
# text = Of course that is what they always say, but this time it happened to be true.
1	Of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	fixed	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	8	advmod	_	_
8	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	cop	_	_
17	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | people |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **happen** | past | this time |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | to-infinitive | this time *not said here* |  |  |  |  | true *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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