---
title: “I am running away from the mermaid,” answered the boy; but the bear… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “I am running away from the mermaid,” answered the boy; but the bear took no interest in the mermaid, and only said: “I am hungry; give me something to eat.” Who acts: boy, bear. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 18, with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 18, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I am running away from the mermaid,” answered the boy; but the bear took no interest in the mermaid, and only said: “I am hungry; give me something to eat.”

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**Who acts:** boy, bear · **What happens:** run away, answer, take, say, be, give · **To what, where:** interest, something, boy · **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 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, bear), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3282:18:12
# text = “I am running away from the mermaid,” answered the boy; but the bear took no interest in the mermaid, and only said: “I am hungry; give me something to eat.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
5	away	away	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
11	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
19	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	20	det	_	_
20	interest	interest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	only	only	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
29	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
32	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
34	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
35	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	iobj	_	_
36	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	34	obj	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	34	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run away** *in a quote* | present · progressive | the boy *= boy* |  |  |  |  | from the mermaid; away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from mermaid=Trajectory |
| 2 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the boy |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **take** | past | the bear | no interest |  |  |  | in the mermaid | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent interest=Value in mermaid=Location |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the bear *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the boy *= boy* |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **give** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | something | the boy *= boy* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient something=Theme |
| 7 | **eat** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | something *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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