---
title: But the Goblin was angry that anyone should dare to say such a thing… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the Goblin was angry that anyone should dare to say such a thing to a grocer who owned the house and sold the best butter. Who acts: Goblin, anyone, grocer. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 2, sentence 46

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But the Goblin was angry that anyone should dare to say such a thing to a grocer who owned the house and sold the best butter.

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**Who acts:** Goblin, anyone, grocer · **What happens:** be, dare, say, own, sell · **To what, where:** thing, grocer, house, best butter · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Goblin, anyone, grocer), 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:pg5615:2:46
# text = But the Goblin was angry that anyone should dare to say such a thing to a grocer who owned the house and sold the best butter.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Goblin	Goblin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	9	nsubj	_	_
8	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	dare	dare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	14	det:predet	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	grocer	grocer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	19	nsubj	_	_
19	owned	own	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	sold	sell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	26	amod	_	_
26	butter	butter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the Goblin |  |  |  |  | angry *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **dare** | should | anyone |  |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | anyone *not said here* | such thing | a grocer |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent thing=Topic to grocer=Recipient |
| 4 | **own** | past | a grocer | the house |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot house=Theme |
| 5 | **sell** | past | a grocer *not said here* | the best butter |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent butter=Theme |

<!-- .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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