--- title: If anyone asks you whence you came, answer that you have come from b… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: If anyone asks you whence you came, answer that you have come from behind you; and if anyone asks you whither you are going, say that you are going before you.' Who acts: anyone, you. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/5/127/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Orange Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/) / [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/5/) / 127 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 5, sentence 127 If anyone asks you whence you came, answer that you have come from behind you; and if anyone asks you whither you are going, say that you are going before you.' **Who acts:** anyone, you · **What happens:** ask, come, answer, go, say · **To what, where:** you · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (anyone, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3027:5:127 # text = If anyone asks you whence you came, answer that you have come from behind you; and if anyone asks you whither you are going, say that you are going before you.' 1 If if SCONJ IN _ 3 mark _ _ 2 anyone anyone PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 3 nsubj _ _ 3 asks ask VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 28 advcl _ _ 4 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 3 obj _ _ 5 whence whence ADV WRB PronType=Int 7 advmod _ _ 6 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 7 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 9 answer answer VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 7 conj _ _ 10 that that SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 11 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 12 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 13 come come VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 9 ccomp _ _ 14 from from ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 behind behind ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 16 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ; ; PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 19 if if SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 20 anyone anyone PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 21 nsubj _ _ 21 asks ask VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 28 advcl _ _ 22 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 21 obj _ _ 23 whither whither ADV WRB PronType=Int 26 advmod _ _ 24 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 25 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 21 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 28 say say VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 29 that that SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 30 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 31 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 32 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 28 ccomp _ _ 33 before before ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 34 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 32 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 . . PUNCT . _ 28 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 36 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 28 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | anyone | | you | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic | | 2 | **come** | past | you | | | | | whence *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* | infinitive | you *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **come** | present · perfect | you | | | | | from you | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from you=Initial\_Location | | 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | anyone | | you | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic | | 6 | **go** | present · progressive | you | | | | | whither *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | imperative | you *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 8 | **go** | present · progressive | you | | | | before you | | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme before you=Location | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 126](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/5/126/) - next →: [sentence 128](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/5/128/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/5/)