--- title: ‘Well,’ said the Governor, ‘I certainly am the chief man about here,… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: ‘Well,’ said the Governor, ‘I certainly am the chief man about here, but people soon begin to talk, and it would be very unpleasant if they were to see this dead body; the best thing that I can do is to go out and bury him.’ Who acts: Governor, I, people, body. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/9/236/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Red Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/) / [The Master Thief](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/9/) / 236 # The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 236 ‘Well,’ said the Governor, ‘I certainly am the chief man about here, but people soon begin to talk, and it would be very unpleasant if they were to see this dead body; the best thing that I can do is to go out and bury him.’ **Who acts:** Governor, I, people, body, best thing · **What happens:** say, be, begin, talk, see, do · **To what, where:** chief man, dead body, best thing, Governor · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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, I, people, body), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg540:9:236 # text = ‘Well,’ said the Governor, ‘I certainly am the chief man about here, but people soon begin to talk, and it would be very unpleasant if they were to see this dead body; the best thing that I can do is to go out and bury him.’ 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Well well INTJ UH _ 5 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 4 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ 5 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 Governor Governor PROPN NNP Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 9 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 11 certainly certainly ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 12 am be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 15 cop _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 14 chief chief ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 ccomp _ _ 16 about about ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 here here ADV RB PronType=Dem 15 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 19 but but CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 20 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 nsubj _ _ 21 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 22 advmod _ _ 22 begin begin VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 ccomp _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 24 talk talk VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 27 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 28 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 29 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 31 cop _ _ 30 very very ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 31 unpleasant unpleasant ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 conj _ _ 32 if if SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 33 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 34 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 advcl _ _ 37 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 39 det _ _ 38 dead dead ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 body body NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 40 ; ; PUNCT : _ 50 punct _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 42 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 43 amod _ _ 43 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 nsubj:outer _ _ 44 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 47 obj _ _ 45 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 47 nsubj _ _ 46 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 47 aux _ _ 47 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 43 acl:relcl _ _ 48 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 50 cop _ _ 49 to to PART TO _ 50 mark _ _ 50 go go VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 conj _ _ 51 out out ADV RB _ 50 advmod _ _ 52 and and CCONJ CC _ 53 cc _ _ 53 bury bury VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 50 conj _ _ 54 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 53 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 55 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 56 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Governor | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 2 | **is a** | present | I | the chief man | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **begin** | present | people | | | | | soon *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 4 | **talk** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* | | | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **is** | would | body | | | | | unpleasant *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **see** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | people | this dead body | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer body=Stimulus | | 7 | **do** | can | I | the best thing | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality | | 8 | **is** | present | the best thing | | | | | go, out *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **bury** | infinitive | the best thing *not said here* | Governor | | | | | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 235](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/9/235/) - next →: [sentence 237](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/9/237/) - ↑ back to [The Master Thief](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/9/)