---
title: By this time I thought it most prudent to lie still till night, when… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: By this time I thought it most prudent to lie still till night, when, my left hand being already loose, I could easily free myself; and as for the inhabitants, I thought I might be a match for the greatest army they could bring against me if they were all of the same size as him I saw. Who acts: I, 
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter I, sentence 33

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By this time I thought it most prudent to lie still till night, when, my left hand being already loose, I could easily free myself; and as for the inhabitants, I thought I might be a match for the greatest army they could bring against me if they were all of the same size as him I saw.

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**Who acts:** I, strings · **What happens:** think, lie, be, bring, see · **To what, where:** match, all · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter I. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, strings), 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:pg503:43:33
# text = By this time I thought it most prudent to lie still till night, when, my left hand being already loose, I could easily free myself; and as for the inhabitants, I thought I might be a match for the greatest army they could bring against me if they were all of the same size as him I saw.
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	8	advmod	_	_
8	prudent	prudent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	lie	lie	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	still	still	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	till	till	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
15	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	left	left	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
20	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	cop	_	_
21	already	already	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	loose	loose	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
24	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	ccomp	_	_
28	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
31	as	as	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
32	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	inhabitants	inhabitant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
36	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
38	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
39	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
40	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	cop	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	match	match	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	ccomp	_	_
43	for	for	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	greatest	great	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	46	amod	_	_
46	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
47	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
48	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	parataxis	_	_
50	against	against	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	49	obl	_	_
52	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	63	mark	_	_
53	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
54	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	cop	_	_
55	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	63	obl	_	_
56	of	of	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nmod	_	_
60	as	as	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nmod	_	_
62	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	63	nsubj	_	_
63	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | I |  |  |  | time |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **lie** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  | still; night |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | my left hand *obl*; loose *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **think** *speech: other* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is a** | might | I | a match |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **bring** | could | strings *= string* |  |  |  |  | for the greatest army; against me | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent against i=Destination |
| 7 | **see** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | I | all |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 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.

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