---
title: If we should be pursued by an enemy I can seize our boat by the prow… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If we should be pursued by an enemy I can seize our boat by the prow and sink it to the bottom of the sea. Who acts: enemy, I. 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 clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 4, sentence 99

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If we should be pursued by an enemy I can seize our boat by the prow and sink it to the bottom of the sea.

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**Who acts:** enemy, I · **What happens:** pursue, seize, sink · **To what, where:** we, boat

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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 (enemy, I), 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:pg2435:4:99
# text = If we should be pursued by an enemy I can seize our boat by the prow and sink it to the bottom of the sea.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	pursued	pursue	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	advcl	_	_
6	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	seize	seize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
12	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	prow	prow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	sink	sink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pursue** *a condition, not said to happen* | should · passive | a enemy | we |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 2 | **seize** | can | I | our boat |  |  |  | by the prow | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boat=Theme |
| 3 | **sink** | infinitive | I *not said here* | boat |  |  |  | to the bottom of the sea | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient |

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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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