--- title: “I cannot talk of such things just now,” answered the father, who co… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: “I cannot talk of such things just now,” answered the father, who could not bear the thought of giving his favourite daughter to this horrible old man, and hoped, by putting it off, that something might happen. Who acts: father, thought, something. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/13/86/) [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 Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/13/) / 86 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 13, sentence 86 “I cannot talk of such things just now,” answered the father, who could not bear the thought of giving his favourite daughter to this horrible old man, and hoped, by putting it off, that something might happen. **Who acts:** father, thought, something · **What happens:** not talk, answer, not bear, give, hope, put off · **To what, where:** thought, favourite daughter, surprise · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (father, thought, something), 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:pg3282:13:86 # text = “I cannot talk of such things just now,” answered the father, who could not bear the thought of giving his favourite daughter to this horrible old man, and hoped, by putting it off, that something might happen. 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 3 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 4 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 5 talk talk VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 ccomp _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 such such ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 things thing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 obl _ _ 9 just just ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ _ 10 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 5 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 ” " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 13 answered answer 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 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 17 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 20 nsubj _ _ 18 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ _ 19 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 20 advmod _ _ 20 bear bear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 conj _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 thought thought NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obj _ _ 23 of of SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 24 giving give VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 22 acl _ _ 25 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 26 favourite favourite ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 daughter daughter NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 iobj _ _ 28 to to ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 29 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 32 nsubj _ _ 30 horrible horrible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 31 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 35 hoped hope VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 37 by by SCONJ IN _ 38 mark _ _ 38 putting put VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 35 advcl _ _ 39 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 obj _ _ 40 off off ADP RP _ 38 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 42 that that SCONJ IN _ 45 mark _ _ 43 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 45 nsubj _ _ 44 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 45 happen happen VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 13 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **talk** *in a quote* | can | the father *= father* | | | | now | of such things | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the father | | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **not** **bear** | could | the father | the thought | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thought=Patient | | 4 | **give** | gerund | the thought *not said here* | | need's favourite daughter | | | to horrible old man | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent daughter=Theme to man=Recipient | | 5 | **hope** | past | the father *not said here* | | | | | | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot | | 6 | **put off** | gerund | the father *not said here* | surprise | | | | | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent it=Goal | | 7 | **happen** | might | something | | | | | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 85](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/13/85/) - next →: [sentence 87](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/13/87/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/13/)