---
title: ‘Here, indeed, it would be better to be a man than such a poor dumb… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Here, indeed, it would be better to be a man than such a poor dumb fish as I am now,’ said he to himself; ‘if I could only remember the words that the troll says when he changes my shape, then perhaps I could help myself to become a man again.’ Who acts: side, fish, I, troll. A sentence of «The Pin
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 27, sentence 16

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‘Here, indeed, it would be better to be a man than such a poor dumb fish as I am now,’ said he to himself; ‘if I could only remember the words that the troll says when he changes my shape, then perhaps I could help myself to become a man again.’

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**Who acts:** side, fish, I, troll, myself · **What happens:** be, say, remember, change, help, become · **To what, where:** man, fish, words, shape, myself · **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 27. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (side, fish, I, troll), 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:pg5615:27:16
# text = ‘Here, indeed, it would be better to be a man than such a poor dumb fish as I am now,’ said he to himself; ‘if I could only remember the words that the troll says when he changes my shape, then perhaps I could help myself to become a man again.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	26	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
9	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	parataxis	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	cop	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	advcl	_	_
14	than	than	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
15	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	19	det:predet	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
17	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
18	dumb	dumb	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
23	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
26	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
31	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
33	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	only	only	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	remember	remember	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	parataxis	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	_
39	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	42	obj	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	troll	troll	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
42	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	acl:relcl	_	_
43	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	45	advmod	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	changes	change	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	ccomp	_	_
46	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
49	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	53	advmod	_	_
50	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
51	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
52	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
53	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	conj	_	_
54	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	53	obj	_	_
55	to	to	PART	TO	_	56	mark	_	_
56	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	xcomp	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	xcomp	_	_
59	again	again	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	36	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | would | side |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | to-infinitive | side *not said here* | a man |  |  |  | than such poor dumb fish | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | fish |  | fish |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient |
| 4 | **remember** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | I | the words |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the troll | the words |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **change** | present | troll | my shape |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shape=Patient |
| 7 | **help** | could | I | myself |  |  | then | perhaps *property* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent myself=Beneficiary clause=Theme |
| 8 | **become** | to-infinitive | myself *not said here* | a man |  |  | again |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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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