--- title: One day the man said to his wife, ‘I wonder, now, whether our parish… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: One day the man said to his wife, ‘I wonder, now, whether our parish clerk could teach Peter to talk; in that case we could not do better than adopt him as our son, and let him inherit all that we possess.’ Who acts: man, I, parish clerk, we. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The P --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/13/113/) [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 Pink Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/) / [The Pink Fairy Book, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/13/) / 113 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 13, sentence 113 One day the man said to his wife, ‘I wonder, now, whether our parish clerk could teach Peter to talk; in that case we could not do better than adopt him as our son, and let him inherit all that we possess.’ **Who acts:** man, I, parish clerk, we, Peter · **What happens:** say, wonder, teach, talk, not do, adopt · **To what, where:** Peter, case · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, I, parish clerk, we), 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:pg5615:13:113 # text = One day the man said to his wife, ‘I wonder, now, whether our parish clerk could teach Peter to talk; in that case we could not do better than adopt him as our son, and let him inherit all that we possess.’ 1 One one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 2 nummod _ _ 2 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl:unmarked _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 to to ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 8 nmod:poss _ _ 8 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 12 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 wonder wonder VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 14 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 12 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 16 whether whether SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 17 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 19 nmod:poss _ _ 18 parish parish NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 compound _ _ 19 clerk clerk NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nsubj _ _ 20 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 21 teach teach VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 conj _ _ 22 Peter Peter PROPN NNP Number=Sing 21 obj _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 24 talk talk VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 25 ; ; PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 26 in in ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 28 det _ _ 28 case case NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 obl _ _ 29 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 30 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 31 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 32 advmod _ _ 32 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 ccomp _ _ 33 better well ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 32 advmod _ _ 34 than than SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 35 adopt adopt VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 32 advcl _ _ 36 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 obj _ _ 37 as as ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 39 nmod:poss _ _ 39 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 42 let let VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 ccomp _ _ 43 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 obj _ _ 44 inherit inherit VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 42 xcomp _ _ 45 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 44 advmod _ _ 46 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 48 obj _ _ 47 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 48 possess possess VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 45 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 42 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 50 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 42 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the man | | | | day | to Peter's wife | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to wife=Experiencer clause=Topic | | 2 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | present | I | | | | now | | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 3 | **teach** *speech: other* | could | our parish clerk | | Peter | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent peter=Recipient clause=Topic | | 4 | **talk** | to-infinitive | our parish clerk *not said here* | | | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **not** **do** | could | we | | | that case | | well *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **adopt** | infinitive | we *not said here* | Peter | | | | as our son | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent he=Theme as son=Attribute | | 7 | **let** | infinitive | | Peter | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **inherit** | infinitive | Peter *not said here* | | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **possess** | present | we | | | | | | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot that=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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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 112](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/13/112/) - next →: [sentence 114](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/13/114/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/13/)