---
title: 'Certainly, father; how can you suppose I should do them wrong?' rep… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'Certainly, father; how can you suppose I should do them wrong?' replied Martin indignantly, helping himself to all the best bits in the dish as he spoke. Who acts: you, I, father, Martin. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 19, with its dependency tree and the pragma
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 19, sentence 96

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'Certainly, father; how can you suppose I should do them wrong?' replied Martin indignantly, helping himself to all the best bits in the dish as he spoke.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, I, father, Martin · **What happens:** suppose, do, reply, help, speak · **To what, where:** father, Martin · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (you, I, father, Martin), 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:pg3027:19:96
# text = 'Certainly, father; how can you suppose I should do them wrong?' replied Martin indignantly, helping himself to all the best bits in the dish as he spoke.
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
6	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
7	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	suppose	suppose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	appos	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
17	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
18	Martin	Martin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
19	indignantly	indignantly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	helping	help	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
22	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	obj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
24	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	27	det:predet	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	27	amod	_	_
27	bits	bit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	dish	dish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suppose** | can | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **do** | should | I | father |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Eventuality |
| 3 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | father |  |  |  |  | indignantly *property* | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **help** | gerund | father *not said here* | Martin |  |  |  | to all best bits in the dish | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | Martin |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=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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