--- title: ‘I can always get away if I choose,’ thought he, ‘it is better not t… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: ‘I can always get away if I choose,’ thought he, ‘it is better not to be in a hurry;’ so he remained quite still while the skin was drawn over his head, which made him very hot and uncomfortable, and resisted the temptation to snap off the fingers or noses that were so close to his mouth. Who acts: --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/12/25/) [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 Lilac Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/) / [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/12/) / 25 # The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 12, sentence 25 ‘I can always get away if I choose,’ thought he, ‘it is better not to be in a hurry;’ so he remained quite still while the skin was drawn over his head, which made him very hot and uncomfortable, and resisted the temptation to snap off the fingers or noses that were so close to his mouth. **Who acts:** I, ram, head, fingers · **What happens:** get away, choose, think, be, not be, remain · **To what, where:** hurry, skin, head, ram, temptation, fingers · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, ram, head, fingers), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3454:12:25 # text = ‘I can always get away if I choose,’ thought he, ‘it is better not to be in a hurry;’ so he remained quite still while the skin was drawn over his head, which made him very hot and uncomfortable, and resisted the temptation to snap off the fingers or noses that were so close to his mouth. 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 3 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 4 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 5 advmod _ _ 5 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 ccomp _ _ 6 away away ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 7 if if SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 8 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 choose choose VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 12 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 13 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 15 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 18 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 expl _ _ 17 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 18 cop _ _ 18 better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 12 ccomp _ _ 19 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 24 advmod _ _ 20 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 21 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 24 cop _ _ 22 in in ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 hurry hurry NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 ; ; PUNCT : _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 26 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 12 punct _ _ 27 so so ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ _ 28 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 remained remain VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 parataxis _ _ 30 quite quite ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 31 still still ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ _ 32 while while SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 skin skin NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nsubj:pass _ _ 35 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux:pass _ _ 36 drawn draw VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 29 advcl _ _ 37 over over ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 39 nmod:poss _ _ 39 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 41 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 42 nsubj _ _ 42 made make VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 acl:relcl _ _ 43 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 obj _ _ 44 very very ADV RB _ 45 advmod _ _ 45 hot hot ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 xcomp _ _ 46 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 47 uncomfortable uncomfortable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 48 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 49 and and CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 50 resisted resist VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 51 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 52 det _ _ 52 temptation temptation NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obj _ _ 53 to to PART TO _ 54 mark _ _ 54 snap snap VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 52 acl _ _ 55 off off ADP RP _ 54 compound:prt _ _ 56 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 57 det _ _ 57 fingers finger NOUN NNS Number=Plur 54 obj _ _ 58 or or CCONJ CC _ 59 cc _ _ 59 noses nose NOUN NNS Number=Plur 57 conj _ _ 60 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 63 nsubj _ _ 61 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 63 cop _ _ 62 so so ADV RB _ 63 advmod _ _ 63 close close ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 57 acl:relcl _ _ 64 to to ADP IN _ 66 case _ _ 65 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 66 nmod:poss _ _ 66 mouth mouth NOUN NN Number=Sing 63 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 67 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **get away** | can | I | | | | | always, away *property* | vn withdraw-82-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **choose** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | I | | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 4 | **is** | present | ram | | | | | good *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **not** **is** | to-infinitive | | | | a hurry | | | tree rules | | 6 | **remain** | past | ram | | | | still | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **draw** | past · passive | | the skin | | ram's head | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 8 | **make** | past | ram's head | ram | | | | hot *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset he=Product | | 9 | **resist** | past | | the temptation | | | | | tree rules | | 10 | **snap off** | to-infinitive | | the fingers or noses | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location finger=Theme | | 11 | **is** | past | the fingers or noses | | | | | to ram's mouth; close *property* | tree rules | 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. **Text:** «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/12/24/) - next →: [sentence 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/12/26/) - ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/12/)