---
title: ‘If only I had straws enough I would make a basket with them, and le… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘If only I had straws enough I would make a basket with them, and let my baby down in it from the window to any kind passer-by who would take care of her.’ Who acts: I, kind passer, passer. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Good Mouse, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Little Good Mouse, sentence 57

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘If only I had straws enough I would make a basket with them, and let my baby down in it from the window to any kind passer-by who would take care of her.’

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**Who acts:** I, kind passer, passer · **What happens:** have, make, let down, take, care · **To what, where:** straws, basket, baby, care

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Good Mouse. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, kind passer, passer), 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:pg540:22:57
# text = ‘If only I had straws enough I would make a basket with them, and let my baby down in it from the window to any kind passer-by who would take care of her.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	csubj	_	_
6	straws	straw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	basket	basket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
18	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	down	down	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	_
23	from	from	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	29	det	_	_
28	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	passer	passer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	34	nsubj	_	_
33	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	appos	_	_
35	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | I | straws |  |  |  | enough *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent straw=Patient |
| 2 | **make** | would | I | a basket |  |  |  | with straws *= straw* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent basket=Product |
| 3 | **let down** | infinitive | I *not said here* | my baby |  | basket |  | from the window to any kind passer; down *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent baby=Theme |
| 4 | **take** | would | any kind passer | care of passer |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent care=Theme |
| 5 | **care** |  | passer |  |  |  |  |  | nom care «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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