---
title: 'It is the only thanks you can give me,' said the raven, 'for I was… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'It is the only thanks you can give me,' said the raven, 'for I was a youth like yourself before spells were laid on me.' Who acts: help, you, I. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 6, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'It is the only thanks you can give me,' said the raven, 'for I was a youth like yourself before spells were laid on me.'

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** help, you, I · **What happens:** be, give, say, lay · **To what, where:** only thanks, me, raven, spells · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (help, you, 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:pg3027:6:27
# text = 'It is the only thanks you can give me,' said the raven, 'for I was a youth like yourself before spells were laid on me.'
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	thanks	thanks	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	ccomp	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
10	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	raven	raven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	appos	_	_
23	like	like	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	yourself	yourself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	22	nmod	_	_
25	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	spells	spell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
27	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux:pass	_	_
28	laid	lay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	ccomp	_	_
29	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | help | the only thanks |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **give** | can | you |  | me |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  | the raven |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | for a youth; like yourself | tree rules |
| 5 | **lay** | past · passive |  | spells |  |  |  | on me | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on i=Destination |

<!-- .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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