---
title: ‘I am not sure that I can do it,’ said the man, ‘for I have to go to… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘I am not sure that I can do it,’ said the man, ‘for I have to go to a wedding with this cask of mead which I have been to fetch, and the tap has fallen out on the way, so now I have to keep my finger in the tap-hole as I drive.’ Who acts: I, man, tap. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew La
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 215

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘I am not sure that I can do it,’ said the man, ‘for I have to go to a wedding with this cask of mead which I have been to fetch, and the tap has fallen out on the way, so now I have to keep my finger in the tap-hole as I drive.’

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**Who acts:** I, man, tap · **What happens:** not be, do, say, have, go, be · **To what, where:** wood, wedding, way, finger, tap hole · **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 (I, man, tap), 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:pg540:9:215
# text = ‘I am not sure that I can do it,’ said the man, ‘for I have to go to a wedding with this cask of mead which I have been to fetch, and the tap has fallen out on the way, so now I have to keep my finger in the tap-hole as I drive.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	ccomp	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	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	15	det	_	_
15	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	wedding	wedding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	det	_	_
28	cask	cask	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	mead	mead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
31	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	36	obj	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
33	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
34	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	36	cop	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	fetch	fetch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	tap	tap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
41	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
43	out	out	ADP	RP	_	42	compound:prt	_	_
44	on	on	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
48	so	so	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
49	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	51	advmod	_	_
50	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
51	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	conj	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	xcomp	_	_
54	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	finger	finger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	_
56	in	in	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
58	tap	tap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	_
61	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	63	mark	_	_
62	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	63	nsubj	_	_
63	drive	drive	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	53	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | can | I | wood |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the man |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **have** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **go** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  | a wedding |  | with this cask of mead | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to wedding=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **is** | present · perfect | I |  |  |  |  | fetch *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **fall out** | present · perfect | the tap |  |  | the way |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on way=Location |
| 8 | **have** | present | I |  |  |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **keep** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | my finger |  | the tap hole |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent finger=Theme in hole=Location |
| 10 | **drive** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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