--- title: ‘Well, I don’t know,’ said his wife, ‘our clerk is tremendously lear… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: ‘Well, I don’t know,’ said his wife, ‘our clerk is tremendously learned, and knows much more than his Paternoster, and I could almost believe that he might be able to teach Peter to talk, for Peter has a wonderfully good head too. Who acts: I, wife, clerk, Peter. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/13/114/) [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/) / 114 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 13, sentence 114 ‘Well, I don’t know,’ said his wife, ‘our clerk is tremendously learned, and knows much more than his Paternoster, and I could almost believe that he might be able to teach Peter to talk, for Peter has a wonderfully good head too. **Who acts:** I, wife, clerk, Peter · **What happens:** not know, say, learn, know, believe, be · **To what, where:** clerk, Peter, good head · **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 (I, wife, clerk, Peter), 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:pg5615:13:114 # text = ‘Well, I don’t know,’ said his wife, ‘our clerk is tremendously learned, and knows much more than his Paternoster, and I could almost believe that he might be able to teach Peter to talk, for Peter has a wonderfully good head too. 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 7 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Well well INTJ UH _ 7 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 4 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 5 do do AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 7 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 6 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 7 advmod _ _ 7 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 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 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 12 wife wife NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 14 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 16 nmod:poss _ _ 16 clerk clerk NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nsubj:pass _ _ 17 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 19 aux:pass _ _ 18 tremendously tremendously ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 19 learned learn VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 12 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 22 knows know VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 10 ccomp _ _ 23 much much ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 24 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 22 advmod _ _ 25 than than ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 Paternoster paternoster NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 30 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 31 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 32 almost almost ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 33 believe believe VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 parataxis _ _ 34 that that SCONJ IN _ 38 mark _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 36 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 37 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 38 cop _ _ 38 able able ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 ccomp _ _ 39 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 40 teach teach VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 xcomp _ _ 41 Peter Peter PROPN NNP Number=Sing 40 obj _ _ 42 to to PART TO _ 43 mark _ _ 43 talk talk VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 40 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 45 for for SCONJ IN _ 47 mark _ _ 46 Peter Peter PROPN NNP Number=Sing 47 nsubj _ _ 47 has have VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 33 conj _ _ 48 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 49 wonderfully wonderfully ADV RB _ 50 advmod _ _ 50 good good ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 51 amod _ _ 51 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obj _ _ 52 too too ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | I | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Peter's wife | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **learn** | present · passive | Peter's wife *not said here* | our clerk | | | | tremendously *property* | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic | | 4 | **know** | present | | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 5 | **believe** | could | I | | | | | almost *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **is** | might | clerk | | | | | able *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **teach** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | clerk *not said here* | | Peter | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent peter=Recipient clause=Topic | | 8 | **talk** | to-infinitive | clerk *not said here* | | | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **have** | present | Peter | a good head | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient | 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 113](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/13/113/) - next →: [sentence 115](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/13/115/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/13/)