---
title: By long experience the man knew there was no good saying any more, a… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: By long experience the man knew there was no good saying any more, and with a sigh he told the poor girl she must return to the forest for the axe. Who acts: man, good saying, saying, mother. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 12, sentence 27

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By long experience the man knew there was no good saying any more, and with a sigh he told the poor girl she must return to the forest for the axe.

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**Who acts:** man, good saying, saying, mother · **What happens:** know, be, tell, return · **To what, where:** poor girl · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, good saying, saying, mother), 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:pg3027:12:27
# text = By long experience the man knew there was no good saying any more, and with a sigh he told the poor girl she must return to the forest for the axe.
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	experience	experience	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	8	expl	_	_
8	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	11	det	_	_
10	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	saying	saying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
12	any	any	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	sigh	sigh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	iobj	_	_
24	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	ccomp	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	for	for	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | the man |  |  |  |  | by long experience | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **be** | past | no good saying |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | saying |  | the poor girl |  |  | with a sigh | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent girl=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **return** | must | mother |  |  |  |  | to the forest *result*; for the axe | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to forest=Result |

<!-- .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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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