---
title: Set your clumsy fingers to work upon it, for I must have it disentan… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Set your clumsy fingers to work upon it, for I must have it disentangled by sunset, and if you break a single thread it will be the worse for you.’ Who acts: you, I, finger, thread. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Graciosa and Percinet, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet, part 2, sentence 69

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Set your clumsy fingers to work upon it, for I must have it disentangled by sunset, and if you break a single thread it will be the worse for you.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, I, finger, thread · **What happens:** set, work, have, disentangle, break, be · **To what, where:** clumsy fingers, finger, single thread

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Graciosa and Percinet, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, I, finger, thread), 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:pg540:24:69
# text = Set your clumsy fingers to work upon it, for I must have it disentangled by sunset, and if you break a single thread it will be the worse for you.’
1	Set	set	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
3	clumsy	clumsy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	fingers	finger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	advcl	_	_
7	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	disentangled	disentangle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	xcomp	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	sunset	sunset	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
20	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	break	break	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	advcl	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	thread	thread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
27	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
28	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	cop	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	1	parataxis	_	_
31	for	for	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set** | imperative | you *not said here* | your clumsy fingers |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Patient finger=Result |
| 2 | **work** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | upon finger | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **have** | must | I | finger |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **disentangle** | participle | finger *not said here* |  |  |  | sunset |  | vn separate-23.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **break** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | a single thread |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer thread=Patient |
| 6 | **is** | future | thread |  |  |  |  | for you; bad *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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