--- title: The clerk was no fool; he looked round about to see that no one coul… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The clerk was no fool; he looked round about to see that no one could overhear them, and said, ‘Oh, yes, I can easily do that, but you must not speak to anyone about it. Who acts: clerk, man, one, I. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, with its dependenc --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/2/) [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/) / 2 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 2 The clerk was no fool; he looked round about to see that no one could overhear them, and said, ‘Oh, yes, I can easily do that, but you must not speak to anyone about it. **Who acts:** clerk, man, one, I, you · **What happens:** be, look round, see, overhear, say, do · **To what, where:** fool, them, that · **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 (clerk, man, one, I), 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:pg5615:14:2 # text = The clerk was no fool; he looked round about to see that no one could overhear them, and said, ‘Oh, yes, I can easily do that, but you must not speak to anyone about it. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 clerk clerk NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 5 det _ _ 5 fool fool NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 6 ; ; PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 7 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 8 looked look VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 9 round round ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 10 about about ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 conj _ _ 13 that that SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 14 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 15 det _ _ 15 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 16 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 17 overhear overhear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 advcl _ _ 18 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 20 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 21 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 23 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 31 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 24 Oh oh INTJ UH _ 31 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 26 yes yes INTJ UH Polarity=Pos 24 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 28 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 29 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 30 easily easily ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 31 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 ccomp _ _ 32 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 31 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 34 but but CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 35 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 36 must must AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 37 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 38 advmod _ _ 38 speak speak VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 5 parataxis _ _ 39 to to ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 anyone anyone PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 38 obl _ _ 41 about about ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | the clerk | no fool | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **look round** | past | man | | | | | round *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 3 | **see** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | | | | | about *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 4 | **overhear** | could | no one | them *= they* | | | | | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus | | 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | man *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **do** | can | I | that | | | | easily *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality | | 7 | **not** **speak** *speech: other* | must | you | | | | | to anyone | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to anyone=Co-Agent | 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 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/1/) - next →: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/3/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/)