---
title: ‘Yes,’ said Walter, ‘certainly I could; but, you see, Jonas, it migh… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Yes,’ said Walter, ‘certainly I could; but, you see, Jonas, it might happen that one of them might bite me in the back, and I should have more trouble in killing them. Who acts: Walter, you, it, one. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8, with its depende
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘Yes,’ said Walter, ‘certainly I could; but, you see, Jonas, it might happen that one of them might bite me in the back, and I should have more trouble in killing them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Walter, you, it, one, I · **What happens:** say, see, happen, bite, have, kill · **To what, where:** Jonas, me, back, more trouble, them · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Walter, you, it, one), 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:pg3454:8:5
# text = ‘Yes,’ said Walter, ‘certainly I could; but, you see, Jonas, it might happen that one of them might bite me in the back, and I should have more trouble in killing them.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	5	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	Walter	Walter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	Jonas	Jonas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
24	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	28	nsubj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nmod	_	_
27	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
29	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
38	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	39	amod	_	_
39	trouble	trouble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
41	killing	kill	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	37	advcl	_	_
42	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Walter |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **see** | present | you | Jonas |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **happen** | might | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **bite** | might | one of them | me |  | the back |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent i=Patient in back=Location |
| 5 | **have** | should | I | more trouble |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trouble=Patient |
| 6 | **kill** | gerund | I *not said here* | them *= they* |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

<!-- .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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