---
title: 'Choose what you will,' said the man; and Manus unhooked a sword and… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'Choose what you will,' said the man; and Manus unhooked a sword and tried it across his knee, and it broke, and so did the next, and the next. Who acts: man, Manus, sword. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 15, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 15, sentence 123

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'Choose what you will,' said the man; and Manus unhooked a sword and tried it across his knee, and it broke, and so did the next, and the next.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, Manus, sword · **What happens:** choose, say, unhook, try, break, do · **To what, where:** sword, knee, next · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, Manus, sword), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg3027:15:123
# text = 'Choose what you will,' said the man; and Manus unhooked a sword and tried it across his knee, and it broke, and so did the next, and the next.
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Choose	choose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	obj	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	Manus	Manus	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	unhooked	unhook	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	across	across	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	knee	knee	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **choose** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **unhook** | past | Manus | a sword |  |  |  |  | vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Patient |
| 4 | **try** | past | Manus *not said here* | sword |  | man's knee |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 5 | **break** | past | sword |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **do** | past | sword *not said here* | the next |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent next=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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