---
title: ‘As you could not possibly guess how much I like you, Sir Fanfaronad… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘As you could not possibly guess how much I like you, Sir Fanfaronade, I am obliged to tell you plainly that, since I saw you enter the town on your beautiful prancing horse, I have been sorry that you came to speak for another instead of for yourself. Who acts: I, you. A sentence of «The Red Fairy 
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Princess Mayblossom, part 2, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘As you could not possibly guess how much I like you, Sir Fanfaronade, I am obliged to tell you plainly that, since I saw you enter the town on your beautiful prancing horse, I have been sorry that you came to speak for another instead of for yourself.

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**Who acts:** I, you · **What happens:** not guess, like, oblige, tell, see, enter · **To what, where:** much, I, that, you, town · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, 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 (I, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg540:4:3
# text = ‘As you could not possibly guess how much I like you, Sir Fanfaronade, I am obliged to tell you plainly that, since I saw you enter the town on your beautiful prancing horse, I have been sorry that you came to speak for another instead of for yourself.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
6	possibly	possibly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	guess	guess	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
9	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	obj	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	Sir	Sir	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	vocative	_	_
15	Fanfaronade	Fanfaronade	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	obliged	oblige	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	iobj	_	_
23	plainly	plainly	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
29	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	enter	enter	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	ccomp	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	on	on	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
34	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
35	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
36	prancing	prancing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	_
37	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
40	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
41	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	42	cop	_	_
42	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
43	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
44	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	advcl	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	xcomp	_	_
48	for	for	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	47	obl	_	_
50	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	53	case	_	_
51	of	of	ADP	IN	_	50	fixed	_	_
52	for	for	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	yourself	yourself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **guess** | could |  |  |  |  |  | Sir *vocative*; possibly *property* | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **like** | present | I | much |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **oblige** | present · passive |  | I |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  | that | you |  |  | plainly *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient that=Topic |
| 5 | **see** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **enter** | present | you | the town |  |  |  | on your beautiful prancing horse | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme town=Destination |
| 7 | **is** | present · perfect | I |  |  |  |  | sorry *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **come** | past | you |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **speak** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for another; instead yourself | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=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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