---
title: In fact, I could hardly tear myself away; but I thought that I must… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In fact, I could hardly tear myself away; but I thought that I must really let you all know about it.' Who acts: I. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 12, sentence 4

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In fact, I could hardly tear myself away; but I thought that I must really let you all know about it.'

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** tear away, think, let, know · **To what, where:** myself, fact, you · **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 (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:pg3027:12:4
# text = In fact, I could hardly tear myself away; but I thought that I must really let you all know about it.'
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	tear	tear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	7	obj	_	_
9	away	away	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	really	really	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
19	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	21	advmod	_	_
21	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
22	about	about	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tear away** | could | I | myself |  | fact |  | away, hardly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **let** | must | I | you |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Theme |
| 4 | **know** | present | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about fact | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer about it=Stimulus |

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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 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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