--- title: Off went the man to the clerk, and asked him whether he thought he c… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Off went the man to the clerk, and asked him whether he thought he could teach a bull-calf that they had to speak, for they wished so much to have it as their heir. Who acts: man, they, bull calf. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, with its dependency t --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/1/) [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 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/) / 1 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 1 Off went the man to the clerk, and asked him whether he thought he could teach a bull-calf that they had to speak, for they wished so much to have it as their heir. **Who acts:** man, they, bull calf · **What happens:** go, ask, think, teach, have, speak · **To what, where:** man, bull calf, much, calf · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, they, bull calf), 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:pg5615:14:1 # text = Off went the man to the clerk, and asked him whether he thought he could teach a bull-calf that they had to speak, for they wished so much to have it as their heir. 1 Off off ADV RB _ 2 advmod _ _ 2 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 5 to to ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 clerk clerk NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 asked ask VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 11 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 iobj _ _ 12 whether whether SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ _ 13 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 nsubj _ _ 14 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 advcl _ _ 15 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 16 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 17 teach teach VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 ccomp _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 19 bull bull NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 20 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 21 calf calf NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ _ 22 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 24 obj _ _ 23 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 acl:relcl _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 speak speak VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 28 for for SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 29 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 wished wish VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 conj _ _ 31 so so ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 obj _ _ 33 to to PART TO _ 34 mark _ _ 34 have have VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 32 acl _ _ 35 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 obj _ _ 36 as as ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 38 heir heir NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **go** | past | | the man | | | | to the clerk; off *property* | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location man=Theme | | 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | | | man | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | | 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | man | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 4 | **teach** *speech: other* | could | man | | a bull calf | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent calf=Recipient | | 5 | **have** | past | they | a bull calf | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **speak** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | a bull calf *not said here* | | | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **wish** | past | they | much | | | | | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot much=Theme | | 8 | **have** | to-infinitive | | calf | | | | as their heir | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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: [The Pink Fairy Book, part 13, 115](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/13/115/) - next →: [sentence 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/2/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/)