---
title: But if you will inform me what it is you wish them to do I shall be… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But if you will inform me what it is you wish them to do I shall be better able to judge who is most fitted for the post.' Who acts: you, it, I. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 15, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 15, sentence 7

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But if you will inform me what it is you wish them to do I shall be better able to judge who is most fitted for the post.'

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**Who acts:** you, it, I · **What happens:** inform, be, do, judge, fit · **To what, where:** me, them

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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, it, 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:pg3027:15:7
# text = But if you will inform me what it is you wish them to do I shall be better able to judge who is most fitted for the post.'
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	inform	inform	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	wish	wish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|Typo=Yes|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	iobj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	cop	_	_
18	better	well	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	19	advmod	_	_
19	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	ccomp	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	judge	judge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
24	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	25	advmod	_	_
25	fitted	fit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	ccomp	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	post	post	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **inform** *speech: other* | future | you |  | me |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | it |  | them *= they* |  |  | wish *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | shall | I |  |  |  |  | able, well *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **judge** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V whether/if S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **fit** | present · passive |  |  |  |  |  | for the post | vn adjust-26.9 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

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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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