--- title: He is still too young to decide everything for himself, and unless y… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: He is still too young to decide everything for himself, and unless you promise me to instruct him in all he should know, and to be to him as a father, I shall not close my eyes in peace.” Who acts: John, you, I. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Trusty John, with its dependency tre --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/41/5/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Blue Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/) / [Trusty John](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/41/) / 5 # The Blue Fairy Book, Trusty John, sentence 5 He is still too young to decide everything for himself, and unless you promise me to instruct him in all he should know, and to be to him as a father, I shall not close my eyes in peace.” **Who acts:** John, you, I · **What happens:** be, decide, promise, instruct, know, not close · **To what, where:** everything, me, John, all, eyes This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Trusty John. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (John, you, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg503:41:5 # text = He is still too young to decide everything for himself, and unless you promise me to instruct him in all he should know, and to be to him as a father, I shall not close my eyes in peace.” 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 2 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 3 still still ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 4 too too ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 5 young young ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 6 to to PART TO _ 7 mark _ _ 7 decide decide VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 advcl _ _ 8 everything everything PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Tot 7 obj _ _ 9 for for ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 10 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 13 unless unless SCONJ IN _ 15 mark _ _ 14 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 15 promise promise VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 16 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 15 iobj _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 instruct instruct VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 xcomp _ _ 19 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obj _ _ 20 in in ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 21 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 18 obl _ _ 22 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 23 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 24 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 27 to to PART TO _ 30 mark _ _ 28 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 30 cop _ _ 29 to to ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 obl _ _ 31 as as ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 father father NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 35 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 36 shall shall AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 37 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 38 advmod _ _ 38 close close VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 18 conj _ _ 39 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 40 nmod:poss _ _ 40 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 obj _ _ 41 in in ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 peace peace NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 44 ” " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | present | John | | | | still | young *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **decide** | to-infinitive | John *not said here* | everything | | | | for John | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent everything=Topic | | 3 | **promise** *speech: promise* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | | me | | | | vn promise-37.13 «NP V NP that S»: agent=Agent i=Recipient clause=Topic | | 4 | **instruct** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | | John | all | | | vn advise-37.9-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 5 | **know** | should | John | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **is** | to-infinitive | | | | | | to John | tree rules | | 7 | **not** **close** | shall | I | my eyes | | | | as a father; in peace | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent eye=Patient in peace=Topic | 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. **Text:** «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/41/4/) - next →: [sentence 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/41/6/) - ↑ back to [Trusty John](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/41/)