---
title: “Very well,” replied the elephant, much amused at the impertinence o… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “Very well,” replied the elephant, much amused at the impertinence of the little creature; “when would you like the trial to be?” Who acts: elephant, you. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 2, sentence 47

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“Very well,” replied the elephant, much amused at the impertinence of the little creature; “when would you like the trial to be?”

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**Who acts:** elephant, you · **What happens:** reply, amuse, like · **To what, where:** elephant, impertinence, trial · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (elephant, you), 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:pg3282:35:47
# text = “Very well,” replied the elephant, much amused at the impertinence of the little creature; “when would you like the trial to be?”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
6	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	much	much	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	amused	amuse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	impertinence	impertinence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	24	advmod	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	trial	trial	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: ask* | past | the elephant |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **amuse** | participle |  | the elephant *not said here* |  | the impertinence of the little creature |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **like** *in a quote* | would | you | the trial |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot trial=Theme |

<!-- .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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