---
title: “I am terribly afraid of falling, myself,” said the Cowardly Lion, “… — The Wonderful Wizard of Oz · tree and pragmatics
description: “I am terribly afraid of falling, myself,” said the Cowardly Lion, “but I suppose there is nothing to do but try it. Who acts: Cowardly Lion, nothing. A sentence of «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz» by L. Frank Baum, Chapter VII. The Journey to the Great Oz, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter VII. The Journey to the Great Oz, sentence 32

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I am terribly afraid of falling, myself,” said the Cowardly Lion, “but I suppose there is nothing to do but try it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Cowardly Lion, nothing · **What happens:** be, fall, say, suppose, do, try · **To what, where:** Cowardly Lion, fall · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Wonderful Wizard of Oz» by L. Frank Baum, Chapter VII. The Journey to the Great Oz. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Cowardly Lion, nothing), 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:pg55:9:32
# text = “I am terribly afraid of falling, myself,” said the Cowardly Lion, “but I suppose there is nothing to do but try it.
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	terribly	terribly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	ccomp	_	_
6	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	Cowardly	cowardly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	Lion	Lion	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	suppose	suppose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
21	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	22	expl	_	_
22	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	ccomp	_	_
23	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	22	nsubj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	acl	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	try	try	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	conj	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the Cowardly Lion *= lion* |  |  |  |  | afraid, terribly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **fall** *in a quote* | gerund | the Cowardly Lion *= lion* *not said here* | the Cowardly Lion *= lion* |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Cowardly Lion |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **suppose** *in a quote* | present | the Cowardly Lion *= lion* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **be** *in a quote* | present | nothing |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **do** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | nothing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **try** *in a quote* | infinitive | nothing *not said here* | fall |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 Wonderful Wizard of Oz» by L. Frank Baum, Project Gutenberg book 55 (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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