---
title: 'If you would have let me speak to you before, I would have told you… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'If you would have let me speak to you before, I would have told you that I come as a friend,' replied the cat; 'and I shall be greatly obliged if you would send four of the strongest and cunningest among you, to do me a service.' Who acts: you, me, I. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 15, sentence 5

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'If you would have let me speak to you before, I would have told you that I come as a friend,' replied the cat; 'and I shall be greatly obliged if you would send four of the strongest and cunningest among you, to do me a service.'

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**Who acts:** you, me, I · **What happens:** have, let, speak, tell, come, reply · **To what, where:** me, you, I, cat, four, service · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (you, me, I), 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:pg3027:15:5
# text = 'If you would have let me speak to you before, I would have told you that I come as a friend,' replied the cat; 'and I shall be greatly obliged if you would send four of the strongest and cunningest among you, to do me a service.'
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
7	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
11	before	before	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	aux	_	_
16	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	16	iobj	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	come	come	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	26	punct	_	_
26	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
30	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
33	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
34	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	aux:pass	_	_
35	greatly	greatly	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
37	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
38	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
39	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	advcl	_	_
41	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	40	obj	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	strongest	strong	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	41	nmod	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
46	cunningest	cunning	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	44	conj	_	_
47	among	among	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
50	to	to	PART	TO	_	51	mark	_	_
51	do	do	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
52	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	51	iobj	_	_
53	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	service	service	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | would | you |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **let** | infinitive | you *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | infinitive | me *not said here* |  | you |  |  | before *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to you=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | would · perfect · passive |  | I | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient you=Topic |
| 5 | **come** | present | I |  |  |  |  | as a friend | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past |  | the cat |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent cat=Topic |
| 7 | **oblige** | shall · passive |  | I |  |  |  | greatly *property* | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 8 | **send** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | you | four of the strongest |  |  |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent four=Theme |
| 9 | **do** | to-infinitive |  | a service | me |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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