---
title: 'Then, if I must die,' said Pinkel, who, by this time, was getting r… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'Then, if I must die,' said Pinkel, who, by this time, was getting really rather frightened, 'let me at least choose the manner of my death. Who acts: I, Pinkel, me, my. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 17, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 17, sentence 53

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'Then, if I must die,' said Pinkel, who, by this time, was getting really rather frightened, 'let me at least choose the manner of my death.

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**Who acts:** I, Pinkel, me, my · **What happens:** die, say, get, let, choose · **To what, where:** me, manner, least · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Pinkel, me, my), 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:pg3027:17:53
# text = 'Then, if I must die,' said Pinkel, who, by this time, was getting really rather frightened, 'let me at least choose the manner of my death.
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	Pinkel	Pinkel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	17	det	_	_
17	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	getting	get	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
21	really	really	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
22	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	frightened	frightened	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	_
27	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	30	obl	_	_
30	choose	choose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **die** *a condition, not said to happen* | must | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Pinkel |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **get** | past · progressive | Pinkel *not said here* |  |  |  |  | frightened *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **let** | infinitive |  | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **choose** | infinitive | me *not said here* | the manner of my death |  | least |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent manner=Theme at least=Asset |
| 6 | **die** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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