---
title: The Governor saw it too, but said, ‘Oh, let it go! it’s no use to th… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The Governor saw it too, but said, ‘Oh, let it go! it’s no use to think of catching a hare when it’s running away.’ Who acts: Governor, kitchen, it. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 116

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The Governor saw it too, but said, ‘Oh, let it go! it’s no use to think of catching a hare when it’s running away.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Governor, kitchen, it · **What happens:** see, say, let, go, be, think · **To what, where:** kitchen, use, hare · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Governor, kitchen, it), 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:pg540:9:116
# text = The Governor saw it too, but said, ‘Oh, let it go! it’s no use to think of catching a hare when it’s running away.’
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Governor	Governor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	13	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
13	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	csubj	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
19	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	20	det	_	_
20	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	ccomp	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	acl	_	_
23	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
24	catching	catch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	22	advcl	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	30	advmod	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	conj	_	_
31	away	away	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | the Governor | kitchen |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Governor *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **let** | infinitive |  | kitchen |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **go** | infinitive | kitchen *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is a** | present | it | no use |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | the Governor *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **catch** | gerund | the Governor *not said here* | a hare |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hare=Theme |
| 8 | **run away** | present · progressive | kitchen |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «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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