---
title: And the man would have been wiser if he had let the ermine and the m… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And the man would have been wiser if he had let the ermine and the mouse alone, for when he turned round again he found he was alone. Who acts: man. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 27, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 27, sentence 58

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the man would have been wiser if he had let the ermine and the mouse alone, for when he turned round again he found he was alone.

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**Who acts:** man · **What happens:** be, let, turn round, find · **To what, where:** man · **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 27. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man), 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:pg3282:27:58
# text = And the man would have been wiser if he had let the ermine and the mouse alone, for when he turned round again he found he was alone.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
7	wiser	wise	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	let	let	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	ermine	ermine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	_
17	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
23	round	round	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	again	again	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
29	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	26	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would · perfect | the man |  |  |  |  | wise *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **let** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | man |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient ermine=Theme |
| 3 | **turn round** | past | man |  |  |  | again | round *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **find** | past | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | past | man |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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