---
title: 'It is the only way that I can free myself from the spells that were… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'It is the only way that I can free myself from the spells that were laid by the giants on me and the raven; for I was a girl and he was a youth wooing me! Who acts: help, giants, I, Ian. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 6, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'It is the only way that I can free myself from the spells that were laid by the giants on me and the raven; for I was a girl and he was a youth wooing me!

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** help, giants, I, Ian, girl · **What happens:** be, lay, woo · **To what, where:** only way, spells, youth, me

<!-- .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, giants, I, Ian), 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:pg3027:6:4
# text = 'It is the only way that I can free myself from the spells that were laid by the giants on me and the raven; for I was a girl and he was a youth wooing 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	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	acl:relcl	_	_
11	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	10	obl:unmarked	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	spells	spell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	laid	lay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	acl:relcl	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	giants	giant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nmod	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	raven	raven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
27	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	cop	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	_
37	wooing	woo	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	acl	_	_
38	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | help | the only way |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **lay** | past · passive | the giants on me | the spells |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Result |
| 3 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | for a girl and a youth | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | past | Ian | a youth |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **woo** | gerund | a girl and a youth *not said here* | me |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=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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