---
title: The clerk, however, said that he could not get a sight of it, for th… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The clerk, however, said that he could not get a sight of it, for then Peter would long after him and forget all that he had already learned. Who acts: clerk, man, Peter. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 10

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The clerk, however, said that he could not get a sight of it, for then Peter would long after him and forget all that he had already learned.

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**Who acts:** clerk, man, Peter · **What happens:** say, not get, forget, learn, sight · **To what, where:** sight, calf · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (clerk, man, Peter), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg5615:14:10
# text = The clerk, however, said that he could not get a sight of it, for then Peter would long after him and forget all that he had already learned.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	clerk	clerk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	however	however	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	25	obl	_	_
19	Peter	Peter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
20	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
21	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	23	advmod	_	_
22	after	after	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	flat	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	forget	forget	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
26	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	31	det:predet	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	already	already	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	learned	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	25	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the clerk |  |  |  |  | however *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **get** | could | man | a sight of calf |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer sight=Stimulus |
| 3 | **forget** | infinitive | Peter |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **learn** | past · perfect | man |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **sight** |  |  | calf |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 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.

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