---
title: Then a very little fish indeed, not more than four inches long and t… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then a very little fish indeed, not more than four inches long and the youngest of the tribe, bowed himself before Thuggai, saying, ‘Ask my father, Guddhu the cod, to light the fire. Who acts: little fish. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 17, with its d
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 17, sentence 82

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then a very little fish indeed, not more than four inches long and the youngest of the tribe, bowed himself before Thuggai, saying, ‘Ask my father, Guddhu the cod, to light the fire.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** little fish · **What happens:** bow, say, ask, light · **To what, where:** Thuggai, cod, father, fire · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little fish), 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:pg3454:17:82
# text = Then a very little fish indeed, not more than four inches long and the youngest of the tribe, bowed himself before Thuggai, saying, ‘Ask my father, Guddhu the cod, to light the fire.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
6	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
9	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV	13	advmod	_	_
10	than	than	ADP	IN	_	9	fixed	_	_
11	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	inches	inch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	13	conj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	tribe	tribe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
21	bowed	bow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
22	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	obj	_	_
23	before	before	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	Thuggai	Thuggai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	Ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	26	ccomp	_	_
30	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	Guddhu	Guddhu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	appos	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	cod	cod	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	light	light	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bow** | past | a little fish | Thuggai |  |  | before Thuggai; then |  | vn curtsey-40.3.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Topic |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | a little fish *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | infinitive |  | the cod | my father |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **light** | to-infinitive |  | the fire |  |  |  |  | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Product |

<!-- .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 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.

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