---
title: He said: ‘Sorcerer or no, if this bagpiper speaks the truth, it was… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He said: ‘Sorcerer or no, if this bagpiper speaks the truth, it was he who sent us this horrible vermin that he wants to rid us of to-day for money. Who acts: sorcerer, bagpiper. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Ratcatcher, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Ratcatcher, sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He said: ‘Sorcerer or no, if this bagpiper speaks the truth, it was he who sent us this horrible vermin that he wants to rid us of to-day for money.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sorcerer, bagpiper · **What happens:** say, speak, be, want, rid · **To what, where:** truth, us · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Ratcatcher. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sorcerer, bagpiper), 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:pg540:32:20
# text = He said: ‘Sorcerer or no, if this bagpiper speaks the truth, it was he who sent us this horrible vermin that he wants to rid us of to-day for money.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
4	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	Sorcerer	sorcerer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	no	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	bagpiper	bagpiper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	speaks	speak	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
20	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
21	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	det	_	_
23	horrible	horrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	vermin	vermin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	wants	want	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	rid	rid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
35	for	for	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | sorcerer |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | this bagpiper | the truth |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | bagpiper |  |  |  |  | send *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **want** | present | sorcerer |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **rid** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | sorcerer *not said here* | us |  |  | day | for money | vn deprive-10.6.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent we=Source |

<!-- .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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