---
title: 'Why I could snap those in a moment,' said he; 'if you want to make… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'Why I could snap those in a moment,' said he; 'if you want to make sure that I cannot escape, better take a line of kelp and bind me with that.' Who acts: I, Wolf, you. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 34, sentence 70

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'Why I could snap those in a moment,' said he; 'if you want to make sure that I cannot escape, better take a line of kelp and bind me with that.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, Wolf, you · **What happens:** snap, say, want, make, not escape, take · **To what, where:** those, line, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Wolf, you), 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:pg3027:34:70
# text = 'Why I could snap those in a moment,' said he; 'if you want to make sure that I cannot escape, better take a line of kelp and bind me with that.'
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	snap	snap	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	5	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	xcomp	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	29	parataxis	_	_
29	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	line	line	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	kelp	kelp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	bind	bind	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
36	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	with	with	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **snap** | could | I | those |  |  | in a moment |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location that=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Wolf |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **want** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **make** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 5 | **not** **escape** | can | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **take** | infinitive | I *not said here* | a line of kelp |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent line=Theme |
| 7 | **bind** | infinitive | I *not said here* | me |  |  |  | with that | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent i=Patient with that=Co-Patient |

<!-- .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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