---
title: There is only one thing I can do really well, and that is—to steal,… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: There is only one thing I can do really well, and that is—to steal, and to hide the smallest scrap of anything I have stolen. Who acts: one thing, I, that. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 4, sentence 124

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There is only one thing I can do really well, and that is—to steal, and to hide the smallest scrap of anything I have stolen.

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**Who acts:** one thing, I, that · **What happens:** be, do, hide, steal · **To what, where:** one thing, smallest scrap

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one thing, I, that), 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:pg2435:4:124
# text = There is only one thing I can do really well, and that is—to steal, and to hide the smallest scrap of anything I have stolen.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	really	really	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	nsubj:outer	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	steal	steal	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	hide	hide	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	smallest	small	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	24	amod	_	_
24	scrap	scrap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	24	nmod	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	stolen	steal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | one thing |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **do** | can | I | one thing *not said here* |  |  |  | well *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 3 | **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  | steal *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **hide** | to-infinitive | that *not said here* | the smallest scrap of anything |  |  |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent scrap=Patient |
| 5 | **steal** | present · perfect | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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