---
title: ‘It is true that a mouse is worth nothing, but rather than see thee… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘It is true that a mouse is worth nothing, but rather than see thee defile thyself with touching such a reptile as this, I will give thee three pounds for it.’ Who acts: freedom, mouse, I. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 35, with its dependency tree an
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 35, sentence 111

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘It is true that a mouse is worth nothing, but rather than see thee defile thyself with touching such a reptile as this, I will give thee three pounds for it.’

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**Who acts:** freedom, mouse, I · **What happens:** be, see, touch, give · **To what, where:** nothing, thee, reptile, three pounds

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (freedom, mouse, 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:pg3454:35:111
# text = ‘It is true that a mouse is worth nothing, but rather than see thee defile thyself with touching such a reptile as this, I will give thee three pounds for it.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	mouse	mouse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	rather	rather	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	15	cc	_	_
14	than	than	ADP	IN	_	13	fixed	_	_
15	see	see	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
16	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	15	obj	_	_
17	defile	defile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	thyself	thyself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes|Style=Arch	17	conj	_	_
19	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
20	touching	touch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
21	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	23	det:predet	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	reptile	reptile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
30	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	29	iobj	_	_
31	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
32	pounds	pound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | freedom |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | a mouse | nothing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | infinitive |  | thee |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **touch** | gerund |  | such reptile |  |  |  | as this | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme reptile=Co-Theme |
| 5 | **give** | future | I | three pounds | thee |  |  | for freedom | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent thou=Recipient pound=Theme for it=Asset |

<!-- .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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