---
title: 'I know,' answered the middle dove; 'she shall never be able to say… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'I know,' answered the middle dove; 'she shall never be able to say anything but "dirty creatures" to the end of her life.' Who acts: I, stepmother. 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 60

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'I know,' answered the middle dove; 'she shall never be able to say anything but "dirty creatures" to the end of her life.'

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**Who acts:** I, stepmother · **What happens:** know, answer, not be, say · **To what, where:** middle dove, anything, end · **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, stepmother), 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:pg3027:12:60
# text = 'I know,' answered the middle dove; 'she shall never be able to say anything but "dirty creatures" to the end of her life.'
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
6	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	middle	middle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	dove	dove	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
11	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
13	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
14	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
16	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	18	obj	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	dirty	dirty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	creatures	creature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	23	punct	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past |  | the middle dove |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent dove=Eventuality |
| 3 | **not** **is** | shall | stepmother |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | stepmother *not said here* | anything | the end of stepmother's life |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent anything=Topic to end=Recipient |

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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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