---
title: “There is no credit in going after an elephant or a tiger,” replied… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “There is no credit in going after an elephant or a tiger,” replied the monkey stroking his chin, “they are so big they could not possibly get out of your way. Who acts: credit, monkey, questions. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 3, with
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 3, sentence 58

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“There is no credit in going after an elephant or a tiger,” replied the monkey stroking his chin, “they are so big they could not possibly get out of your way.

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**Who acts:** credit, monkey, questions · **What happens:** be, go, reply, stroke, not get out · **To what, where:** chin, way · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (credit, monkey, questions), 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:pg3282:36:58
# text = “There is no credit in going after an elephant or a tiger,” replied the monkey stroking his chin, “they are so big they could not possibly get out of your way.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	3	expl	_	_
3	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	ccomp	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	credit	credit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
6	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
8	after	after	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	elephant	elephant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	tiger	tiger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
16	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	monkey	monkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	stroking	stroke	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	18	acl	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	chin	chin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	parataxis	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
31	possibly	possibly	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	parataxis	_	_
33	out	out	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** *in a quote* | present | no credit |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **go** *in a quote* | gerund | no credit *not said here* |  |  |  | after a elephant or a tiger |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | the monkey |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **stroke** | gerund | the monkey *not said here* | credit's chin |  |  |  |  | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chin=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is** *in a quote* | present | questions *= question* |  |  |  |  | big *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **get out** *in a quote* | could | questions *= question* | your way |  |  |  | possibly *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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