---
title: The fakeer replied that he was asking a very difficult, and perhaps… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The fakeer replied that he was asking a very difficult, and perhaps a very dangerous, thing; but that he would pray for him, and perhaps he might be able to do it; only he warned the king both against the dangers of his unbelief, and against the curiosity which prompted him to ask this thing. Who ac
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 3, sentence 25

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The fakeer replied that he was asking a very difficult, and perhaps a very dangerous, thing; but that he would pray for him, and perhaps he might be able to do it; only he warned the king both against the dangers of his unbelief, and against the curiosity which prompted him to ask this thing.

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**Who acts:** fakeer, curiosity · **What happens:** reply, ask, pray, be, do, warn · **To what, where:** dangerous thing, difficult, thing, king

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fakeer, curiosity), 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:pg3027:3:25
# text = The fakeer replied that he was asking a very difficult, and perhaps a very dangerous, thing; but that he would pray for him, and perhaps he might be able to do it; only he warned the king both against the dangers of his unbelief, and against the curiosity which prompted him to ask this thing.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fakeer	fakeer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
13	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
15	very	very	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	dangerous	dangerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	pray	pray	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
29	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
31	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	cop	_	_
33	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	conj	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
38	only	only	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	warned	warn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	both	both	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
44	against	against	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	dangers	danger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	unbelief	unbelief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
52	against	against	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	curiosity	curiosity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	_
55	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	56	nsubj	_	_
56	prompted	prompt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	acl:relcl	_	_
57	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	obj	_	_
58	to	to	PART	TO	_	59	mark	_	_
59	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	advcl	_	_
60	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	61	det	_	_
61	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the fakeer | a dangerous thing |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · progressive | fakeer | a difficult |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent difficult=Recipient |
| 3 | **pray** | would | fakeer |  |  |  |  | for King | vn long-32.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Pivot for he=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | might | fakeer |  |  |  |  | able, perhaps *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **do** | to-infinitive | fakeer *not said here* | thing |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 6 | **warn** *speech: warn* | past | fakeer |  | the king |  |  | against the dangers of King's unbelief; both *property* | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP PP.topic»: agent=Agent king=Recipient against danger=Topic |
| 7 | **prompt** | past | the curiosity | King |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition he=Patient |
| 8 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | the curiosity *not said here* | this thing |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent thing=Recipient |

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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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