---
title: “Yes,” answered the fox; “it is a long journey to take for such a th… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “Yes,” answered the fox; “it is a long journey to take for such a thing as that, but you know what the miller’s friends are like—so dull and heavy! Who acts: fox, you. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 21, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 21, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Yes,” answered the fox; “it is a long journey to take for such a thing as that, but you know what the miller’s friends are like—so dull and heavy!

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**Who acts:** fox, you · **What happens:** answer, be, take, know · **To what, where:** long journey · **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 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fox, you), 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:pg3282:21:15
# text = “Yes,” answered the fox; “it is a long journey to take for such a thing as that, but you know what the miller’s friends are like—so dull and heavy!
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
11	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	journey	journey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	acl	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	20	det:predet	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
25	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
27	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	26	obj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	miller	miller	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	’s	's	PART	POS	_	29	case	_	_
31	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nsubj	_	_
32	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	cop	_	_
33	like	like	ADP	IN	_	27	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	so	so	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	dull	dull	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	parataxis	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: express* | past | the fox |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | fox | a long journey |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **take** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the fox *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for such thing; as a long journey | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent as that=Attribute |
| 4 | **know** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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