---
title: 'Tell me what they are,' said Covan again, 'and I shall know better… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'Tell me what they are,' said Covan again, 'and I shall know better if I may overcome them.' Who acts: Covan, I. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 31, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 31, sentence 10

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'Tell me what they are,' said Covan again, 'and I shall know better if I may overcome them.'

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**Who acts:** Covan, I · **What happens:** tell, be, say, know, overcome · **To what, where:** me, perils · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 31. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Covan, I), 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:pg3027:31:10
# text = 'Tell me what they are,' said Covan again, 'and I shall know better if I may overcome them.'
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
3	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	iobj	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	2	ccomp	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	Covan	Covan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
11	again	again	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
13	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
18	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	17	advmod	_	_
19	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	overcome	overcome	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
23	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 2 | **is a** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Covan |  |  |  | again |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **know** | shall | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **overcome** *a condition, not said to happen* | may | I | perils *= peril* |  |  |  |  | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot they=Theme |

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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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