--- title: ‘Ah! if only the Troll were not so quick-tempered I might have told… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: ‘Ah! if only the Troll were not so quick-tempered I might have told him that,’ answered the Princess, ‘but he is so ill-natured that he will tear you to pieces, I fear, as soon as he comes in. Who acts: Troll, I. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mother Holle, part 3, with its depen --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/46/19/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Red Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/) / [Mother Holle, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/46/) / 19 # The Red Fairy Book, Mother Holle, part 3, sentence 19 ‘Ah! if only the Troll were not so quick-tempered I might have told him that,’ answered the Princess, ‘but he is so ill-natured that he will tear you to pieces, I fear, as soon as he comes in. **Who acts:** Troll, I · **What happens:** not temper, tell, answer, be, tear, fear · **To what, where:** Troll, I, Princess, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mother Holle, 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 (Troll, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg540:46:19 # text = ‘Ah! if only the Troll were not so quick-tempered I might have told him that,’ answered the Princess, ‘but he is so ill-natured that he will tear you to pieces, I fear, as soon as he comes in. 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 17 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Ah ah INTJ UH _ 17 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 3 ! ! PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ 4 if if SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 5 only only ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 Troll troll NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 8 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 aux:pass _ _ 9 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 13 advmod _ _ 10 so so ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 11 quick quick ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 12 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 13 tempered temper VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 17 advcl _ _ 14 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj:pass _ _ 15 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 16 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 17 aux _ _ 17 told tell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 22 ccomp _ _ 18 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 iobj _ _ 19 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 17 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 22 punct _ _ 22 answered answer VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 Princess Princess PROPN NNP Number=Sing 22 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 26 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 33 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 27 but but CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 28 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 29 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 33 cop _ _ 30 so so ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 31 ill ill ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 32 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 33 natured natured ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 conj _ _ 34 that that SCONJ IN _ 37 mark _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 36 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 37 tear tear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 advcl _ _ 38 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ _ 39 to to ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 pieces piece NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 42 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 43 fear fear VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 22 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 45 as as ADV RB _ 46 advmod _ _ 46 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 49 advmod _ _ 47 as as SCONJ IN _ 49 mark _ _ 48 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 49 nsubj _ _ 49 comes come VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 43 conj _ _ 50 in in ADV RB _ 49 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 22 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **temper** | past · passive | | the Troll | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | might · perfect · passive | | I | Troll | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | | | the Princess | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **is** | present | Troll | | | | | natured *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **tear** | future | Troll | you | | | | to pieces *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent you=Patient to piece=Result | | 6 | **fear** | present | I | | | | | | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 7 | **come in** | present | Troll | | | | | soon *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/46/18/) - next →: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/46/20/) - ↑ back to [Mother Holle, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/46/)