---
title: ‘Well, it might be done,’ said the Master Thief, ‘if I were absolute… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Well, it might be done,’ said the Master Thief, ‘if I were absolutely certain that I should get your daughter.’ Who acts: Master Thief, I. 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 203

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‘Well, it might be done,’ said the Master Thief, ‘if I were absolutely certain that I should get your daughter.’

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**Who acts:** Master Thief, I · **What happens:** do, say, be, get · **To what, where:** fool, 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 (Master Thief, I), 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:pg540:9:203
# text = ‘Well, it might be done,’ said the Master Thief, ‘if I were absolutely certain that I should get your daughter.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Well	well	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	Master	Master	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	Thief	Thief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
19	absolutely	absolutely	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	conj	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	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	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | might · passive |  | fool |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Master Thief |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | I |  |  |  |  | absolutely, certain *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **get** | should | I | your daughter |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer daughter=Stimulus |

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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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