---
title: I know all about the prophecy that was made at my birth, but I would… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: I know all about the prophecy that was made at my birth, but I would far rather be killed at once than live an idle, useless life here. Who acts: I. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 25, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 25, sentence 17

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I know all about the prophecy that was made at my birth, but I would far rather be killed at once than live an idle, useless life here.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** know, make, kill, live · **To what, where:** prophecy, birth, I, idle useless life

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 25. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I), 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:pg3282:25:17
# text = I know all about the prophecy that was made at my birth, but I would far rather be killed at once than live an idle, useless life here.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	about	about	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	prophecy	prophecy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	birth	birth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
17	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	18	advmod	_	_
18	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
21	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	20	obl	_	_
23	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
24	live	live	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	advcl	_	_
25	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
26	idle	idle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
28	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
30	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  | about the prophecy; all *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer about prophecy=Stimulus |
| 2 | **make** | past · passive |  | the prophecy |  | my birth |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 3 | **kill** | would · passive |  | I |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **live** | infinitive |  | a idle useless life |  | here |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme life=Location |

<!-- .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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