---
title: “I knew that we should not get off so easily,” said the fox, shaking… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “I knew that we should not get off so easily,” said the fox, shaking his head; “but there is no more time to waste. Who acts: fox, we, more time. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23, sentence 42

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I knew that we should not get off so easily,” said the fox, shaking his head; “but there is no more time to waste.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** fox, we, more time · **What happens:** know, not get off, say, shake, be, waste · **To what, where:** head · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fox, we, more time), 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:pg3282:23:42
# text = “I knew that we should not get off so easily,” said the fox, shaking his head; “but there is no more time to waste.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	ccomp	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
9	off	off	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
14	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	shaking	shake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
22	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	25	expl	_	_
25	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
26	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	28	det	_	_
27	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	28	amod	_	_
28	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	waste	waste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** *in a quote* | past | the fox *= fox* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **get off** *in a quote* | should | we |  |  |  |  | easily *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the fox |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **shake** | gerund | the fox *not said here* | castle's head |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
| 5 | **be** *in a quote* | present | no more time |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **waste** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | no more time *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: 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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