---
title: 'I am only just in time, sire,' began the frog; 'had I been a day la… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'I am only just in time, sire,' began the frog; 'had I been a day later you would have broken your faith which you swore to the queen nine years ago.' Who acts: I, sire, you, faith. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 28, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 28, sentence 73

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'I am only just in time, sire,' began the frog; 'had I been a day later you would have broken your faith which you swore to the queen nine years ago.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, sire, you, faith · **What happens:** be, begin, have, break, swear · **To what, where:** sire, frog, I, day, faith

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 28. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, sire, you, faith), 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:pg3027:28:73
# text = 'I am only just in time, sire,' began the frog; 'had I been a day later you would have broken your faith which you swore to the queen nine years ago.'
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
3	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	sire	sire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
12	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	csubj	_	_
18	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	cop	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl:unmarked	_	_
22	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	26	advmod	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux	_	_
26	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	parataxis	_	_
27	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	faith	faith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	swore	swear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
35	nine	nine	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	36	nummod	_	_
36	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl:unmarked	_	_
37	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | I | sire |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **begin** | past | sire | the frog |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent frog=Eventuality |
| 3 | **have** | past |  | I |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Patient |
| 4 | **is a** | participle |  | a day |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **break** | would · perfect | you | your faith |  |  |  | late *property* | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer faith=Patient |
| 6 | **swear** | past | your faith |  |  |  |  | to the queen; ago *property* | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: 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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