---
title: Whether Geirald was right or not in thinking that the so-called page… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Whether Geirald was right or not in thinking that the so-called page was really a well-proved knight, it is certain that Rosald’s task was a very hard one. Who acts: Geirald, called page, it, task. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 13, with its dependenc
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 13, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whether Geirald was right or not in thinking that the so-called page was really a well-proved knight, it is certain that Rosald’s task was a very hard one.

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**Who acts:** Geirald, called page, it, task, Rosald · **What happens:** be, not think, call, prove, task · **To what, where:** proved knight, hard one · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Geirald, called page, it, task), 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:pg3282:13:23
# text = Whether Geirald was right or not in thinking that the so-called page was really a well-proved knight, it is certain that Rosald’s task was a very hard one.
1	Whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	Geirald	Geirald	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	advcl	_	_
5	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
7	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
8	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	amod	_	_
14	page	page	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
16	really	really	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
18	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	proved	prove	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	amod	_	_
21	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
25	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
27	Rosald	Rosald	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’s	's	PART	POS	_	27	case	_	_
29	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
32	very	very	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	25	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Geirald |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | gerund | Geirald *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **call** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **prove** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is a** | past | the called page | a proved knight |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | certain *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **is a** | past | Rosald's task | a hard one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **task** |  | Rosald |  |  |  |  |  | nom task «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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