---
title: 'It is not I, but my brother, who knows,' replied the traitor; 'if y… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'It is not I, but my brother, who knows,' replied the traitor; 'if your majesty would ask him--' But before the words were out of his mouth the king had struck a blow with his sceptre on a golden plate that hung on the wall. Who acts: secret, brother, I, majesty. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 31, sentence 112

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'It is not I, but my brother, who knows,' replied the traitor; 'if your majesty would ask him--' But before the words were out of his mouth the king had struck a blow with his sceptre on a golden plate that hung on the wall.

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**Who acts:** secret, brother, I, majesty, words, king · **What happens:** not be, know, reply, ask, be, strike · **To what, where:** I, traitor, bird, mouth, blow, wall

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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 (secret, brother, I, majesty), 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:pg3027:31:112
# text = 'It is not I, but my brother, who knows,' replied the traitor; 'if your majesty would ask him--' But before the words were out of his mouth the king had struck a blow with his sceptre on a golden plate that hung on the wall.
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
8	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
12	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
15	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	traitor	traitor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
19	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	majesty	majesty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
23	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	parataxis	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	_
28	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
29	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
32	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
33	out	out	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	advcl	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
39	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	struck	strike	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	conj	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	with	with	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	sceptre	sceptre	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	_
46	on	on	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	plate	plate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	_
50	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	51	nsubj	_	_
51	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	acl:relcl	_	_
52	on	on	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is a** | present | secret | I |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | present | my brother |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | I | the traitor |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent traitor=Topic |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* *a condition, not said to happen* | would | your majesty |  | bird |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 5 | **is** | past | the words |  |  | bird's mouth |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **strike** | past · perfect | the king | a blow |  |  |  | with bird's sceptre on a golden plate | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent blow=Patient with sceptre=Instrument |
| 7 | **hang** | past | a golden plate |  |  | the wall |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on wall=Location |

<!-- .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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