---
title: ‘But be sure you tie the knot securely, for I don’t want to fall dow… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘But be sure you tie the knot securely, for I don’t want to fall down and break my neck.’ Who acts: you, I. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 2, sentence 73

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‘But be sure you tie the knot securely, for I don’t want to fall down and break my neck.’

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**Who acts:** you, I · **What happens:** be, tie, not want, fall down, break · **To what, where:** knot, neck

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, 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 (you, I), 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:pg3454:2:73
# text = ‘But be sure you tie the knot securely, for I don’t want to fall down and break my neck.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	tie	tie	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	knot	knot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	securely	securely	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
12	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	down	down	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **tie** | present | you | the knot |  |  |  | securely *property* | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knot=Patient |
| 3 | **not** **want** | present · do-support | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **fall down** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **break** | infinitive | I *not said here* | my neck |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer neck=Patient |

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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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