---
title: ‘What you set me to do can be done,’ said the Master Thief, ‘but am… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘What you set me to do can be done,’ said the Master Thief, ‘but am I certain to get your daughter when it is?’ Who acts: you, Master Thief, I, place. 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 160

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‘What you set me to do can be done,’ said the Master Thief, ‘but am I certain to get your daughter when it is?’

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**Who acts:** you, Master Thief, I, place · **What happens:** set, do, say, be, get · **To what, where:** me, daughter · **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, Master Thief, I, place), 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:pg540:9:160
# text = ‘What you set me to do can be done,’ said the Master Thief, ‘but am I certain to get your daughter when it is?’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	10	obj	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
8	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	Master	Master	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	Thief	Thief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	ccomp	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
25	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set** | past | you | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **do** | can · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: what=Eventuality |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Master Thief |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | certain *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **get** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | your daughter |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer daughter=Stimulus |
| 7 | **be** | present | place |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «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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