---
title: Now I need not tell any gentleman or lady that if he or she was to d… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now I need not tell any gentleman or lady that if he or she was to drink an honest bottle of whisky at one pull, it is not at all the same thing as drinking a bottle of water; and in the whole course of my life I never knew more than five men who could do so without being the worse. Who acts: I, Pad
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now I need not tell any gentleman or lady that if he or she was to drink an honest bottle of whisky at one pull, it is not at all the same thing as drinking a bottle of water; and in the whole course of my life I never knew more than five men who could do so without being the worse.

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**Who acts:** I, Paddy, bottle, five men · **What happens:** not tell, be, not be, drink, not know, do · **To what, where:** gentleman, one pull, same thing, bottle, five men · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Paddy, bottle, five men), 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:pg3454:18:27
# text = Now I need not tell any gentleman or lady that if he or she was to drink an honest bottle of whisky at one pull, it is not at all the same thing as drinking a bottle of water; and in the whole course of my life I never knew more than five men who could do so without being the worse.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	need	need	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
7	gentleman	gentleman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	fixed	_	_
14	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
18	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	honest	honest	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	bottle	bottle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	whisky	whisky	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	25	nummod	_	_
25	pull	pull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
28	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
30	at	at	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
31	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	34	det:predet	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	parataxis	_	_
35	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
36	drinking	drink	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	34	advcl	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	bottle	bottle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	42	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	_
50	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
51	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	52	advmod	_	_
52	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	acl:relcl	_	_
53	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV	55	advmod	_	_
54	than	than	ADP	IN	_	53	fixed	_	_
55	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	56	nummod	_	_
56	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	obj	_	_
57	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	59	nsubj	_	_
58	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
59	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	acl:relcl	_	_
60	so	so	ADV	RB	_	59	advmod	_	_
61	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	64	mark	_	_
62	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	64	cop	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	59	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | present | I |  | any gentleman or lady |  | now |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent gentleman=Recipient |
| 2 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Paddy |  |  | one pull |  | drink *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **is** | present | bottle |  |  | all same thing |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **drink** | gerund | bottle *not said here* | a bottle of water |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bottle=Patient |
| 5 | **not** **know** | past | I | five men |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus |
| 6 | **do** | could | five men |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** | gerund | five men *not said here* |  |  |  |  | bad *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 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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