---
title: “Yes, I am afraid he IS trying,” replied the first; “but let us put… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “Yes, I am afraid he IS trying,” replied the first; “but let us put them to the proof, and see which of them is the most foolish.” Who acts: I, husband, us. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/63/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/) / 63

# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29, sentence 63

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Yes, I am afraid he IS trying,” replied the first; “but let us put them to the proof, and see which of them is the most foolish.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, husband, us · **What happens:** be, try, reply, let, put, see · **To what, where:** first, us, ducks · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, husband, us), 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:pg3282:29:63
# text = “Yes, I am afraid he IS trying,” replied the first; “but let us put them to the proof, and see which of them is the most foolish.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	ccomp	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	IS	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
12	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	12	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
16	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	ccomp	_	_
19	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	proof	proof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
28	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	_
31	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	34	advmod	_	_
34	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | I |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **try** *in a quote* | present · progressive | husband |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past |  | the first |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **put** *in a quote* | infinitive | us *not said here* | ducks *= duck* |  |  |  | to the proof | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent they=Goal |
| 6 | **see** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **is** *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  | foolish *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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/62/)
- next →: [sentence 64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/64/)
- ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/)