---
title: 'How am I to fetch the ring from the bottom of this river when I do… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'How am I to fetch the ring from the bottom of this river when I do not know exactly where it was dropped, and cannot even see it?' asked Jose. Who acts: I. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 32, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 32, sentence 70

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'How am I to fetch the ring from the bottom of this river when I do not know exactly where it was dropped, and cannot even see it?' asked Jose.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** fetch, not know, drop, not see, ask · **To what, where:** ring, bottom, river, Jose · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 32. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I), 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:pg3027:32:70
# text = 'How am I to fetch the ring from the bottom of this river when I do not know exactly where it was dropped, and cannot even see it?' asked Jose.
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
3	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	fetch	fetch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	ccomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	det	_	_
14	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
20	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
21	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	24	advmod	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	dropped	drop	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
29	even	even	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
34	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
35	Jose	Jose	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	34	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fetch** *not said to happen* | present | I | the ring |  | the bottom of this river |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent ring=Theme from bottom=Source |
| 2 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **drop** | past · passive |  | river |  |  |  | exactly *property* | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **see** | can | I *not said here* | river |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  | Jose |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent jose=Recipient clause=Topic |

<!-- .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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