--- title: The prince had an eloquent tongue, which could split a hair, and wit… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The prince had an eloquent tongue, which could split a hair, and without hesitation he replied to her with a verse: “Only the Omnipotent has knowledge of secrets; if any man says, ‘I know’ do not believe him.” Who acts: prince, eloquent tongue, Omnipotent, man. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» b --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/2/9/) [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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/2/) / 9 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 2, sentence 9 The prince had an eloquent tongue, which could split a hair, and without hesitation he replied to her with a verse: “Only the Omnipotent has knowledge of secrets; if any man says, ‘I know’ do not believe him.” **Who acts:** prince, eloquent tongue, Omnipotent, man · **What happens:** have, split, reply, say, know, not believe · **To what, where:** eloquent tongue, hair, rose, knowledge, man · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prince, eloquent tongue, Omnipotent, man), 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:pg3282:2:9 # text = The prince had an eloquent tongue, which could split a hair, and without hesitation he replied to her with a verse: “Only the Omnipotent has knowledge of secrets; if any man says, ‘I know’ do not believe him.” 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 prince prince NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 eloquent eloquent ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 tongue tongue NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 8 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 10 nsubj _ _ 9 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 10 aux _ _ 10 split split VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 acl:relcl _ _ 11 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 hair hair NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 15 without without ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 16 hesitation hesitation NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ _ 17 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 18 replied reply VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 19 to to ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obl _ _ 21 with with ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 verse verse NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 : : PUNCT : _ 29 punct _ _ 25 “ " PUNCT `` _ 29 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 26 Only only ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 Omnipotent omnipotent NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nsubj _ _ 29 has have VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 acl:relcl _ _ 30 knowledge knowledge NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obj _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 secrets secret NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 33 ; ; PUNCT : _ 37 punct _ _ 34 if if SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 35 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 36 det _ _ 36 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nsubj _ _ 37 says say VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 45 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 39 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 41 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 40 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 41 know know VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 37 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 42 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 41 punct _ _ 43 do do AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 45 aux _ _ 44 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 45 advmod _ _ 45 believe believe VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 46 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 45 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ” " PUNCT '' _ 45 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** | past | the prince | a eloquent tongue | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **split** | could | a eloquent tongue | a hair | | | | | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hair=Patient | | 3 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | prince | | rose | | | without hesitation; with a verse | vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme PP.predicate»: agent=Agent to she=Theme with verse=Eventuality | | 4 | **have** *in a quote* | present | the Omnipotent | knowledge of secrets | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knowledge=Patient | | 5 | **say** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | any man | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **know** *in a quote* | present | prince | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 7 | **not** **believe** *in a quote* | present · do-support | | man | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus | 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 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/2/8/) - next →: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/2/10/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/2/)