---
title: I cannot ask Percinet to help me again, for if he really loved me he… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: I cannot ask Percinet to help me again, for if he really loved me he would not wait till I called him, he would come without that.’ Who acts: I, Percinet. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Graciosa and Percinet, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet, part 3, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I cannot ask Percinet to help me again, for if he really loved me he would not wait till I called him, he would come without that.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, Percinet · **What happens:** not ask, help, love, not wait, call, come · **To what, where:** Percinet, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Graciosa and Percinet, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Percinet), 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:pg540:25:5
# text = I cannot ask Percinet to help me again, for if he really loved me he would not wait till I called him, he would come without that.’
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	Percinet	Percinet	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
8	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	again	again	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
11	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	really	really	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	loved	love	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
16	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	20	advmod	_	_
20	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
21	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
29	without	without	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	’	'	SYM	NFP	_	4	discourse	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **ask** *speech: ask* | can | I |  | Percinet |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent percinet=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **help** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  | me |  | again |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **love** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Percinet | me |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer i=Stimulus |
| 4 | **not** **wait** | would | Percinet |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **call** | past | I |  | Percinet |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 6 | **come** | would | Percinet |  |  |  |  | without that | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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 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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