---
title: ‘You must first give some more samples of your skill,’ said the Gove… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘You must first give some more samples of your skill,’ said the Governor, trying to speak him fair, ‘for what you did to-day was no such very great thing after all. Who acts: You, Governor. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 130

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‘You must first give some more samples of your skill,’ said the Governor, trying to speak him fair, ‘for what you did to-day was no such very great thing after all.

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**Who acts:** You, Governor · **What happens:** give, say, try, speak, do, be · **To what, where:** more samples, Governor, such great thing, skill · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (You, Governor), 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:pg540:9:130
# text = ‘You must first give some more samples of your skill,’ said the Governor, trying to speak him fair, ‘for what you did to-day was no such very great thing after all.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	advmod	_	_
5	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
6	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	8	det	_	_
7	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	amod	_	_
8	samples	sample	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	skill	skill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
14	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Governor	Governor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
24	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	37	obl	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	acl:relcl	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
33	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	37	det	_	_
34	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
35	very	very	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
38	after	after	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | must | You | some more samples of your skill |  |  |  | first *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sample=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Governor |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **try** | gerund | the Governor *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the Governor *not said here* | Governor |  |  |  | fair *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **do** | past | you |  |  |  | day |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is a** | past |  | no such great thing |  |  | after all |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **sample** |  |  | your skill |  |  |  |  | nom sample «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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