---
title: 'There is something that I had set my heart on, though I hardly like… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'There is something that I had set my heart on, though I hardly like to propose it on so short an acquaintance; but from what people have told me, I thought that you and I might keep house together comfortably, if you would only agree to try. Who acts: something, I, you. A sentence of «The Orange Fa
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 19, sentence 27

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'There is something that I had set my heart on, though I hardly like to propose it on so short an acquaintance; but from what people have told me, I thought that you and I might keep house together comfortably, if you would only agree to try.

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**Who acts:** something, I, you · **What happens:** be, set on, like, propose, tell, think · **To what, where:** heart, short acquaintance, people, me, house · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (something, I, you), 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:pg3027:19:27
# text = 'There is something that I had set my heart on, though I hardly like to propose it on so short an acquaintance; but from what people have told me, I thought that you and I might keep house together comfortably, if you would only agree to try.
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	3	nsubj	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl:relcl	_	_
9	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	propose	propose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
21	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
23	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	acquaintance	acquaintance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
27	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	31	obj	_	_
29	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	advcl	_	_
32	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
34	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
36	that	that	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	35	obl	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
40	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	conj	_	_
42	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
43	together	together	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
44	comfortably	comfortably	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
46	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
47	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
48	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
49	only	only	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
50	agree	agree	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	41	conj	_	_
51	to	to	PART	TO	_	52	mark	_	_
52	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | something |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **set on** | past · perfect · passive |  | my heart |  |  |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme heart=Destination |
| 3 | **like** | present | I |  |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **propose** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | heart |  | a short acquaintance |  |  | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present · perfect · passive |  | people | me |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | past | I |  |  |  |  | that you | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **keep** | might | I | house |  |  |  | comfortably, together *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent house=Theme |
| 8 | **agree** *speech: agree* *a condition, not said to happen* | would | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **try** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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