---
title: ‘Better,’ he said to himself, ‘trust to a thread than to the mercies… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Better,’ he said to himself, ‘trust to a thread than to the mercies of a king;’ and, gliding down, he found himself safe on the other side of the wall. Who acts: thread. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 30, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 30, sentence 91

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‘Better,’ he said to himself, ‘trust to a thread than to the mercies of a king;’ and, gliding down, he found himself safe on the other side of the wall.

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**Who acts:** thread · **What happens:** say, glide down, find · **To what, where:** thread, other side · **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 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thread), 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:pg5615:30:91
# text = ‘Better,’ he said to himself, ‘trust to a thread than to the mercies of a king;’ and, gliding down, he found himself safe on the other side of the wall.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	trust	trust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	thread	thread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	than	than	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	mercies	mercy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	gliding	glide	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	_
27	down	down	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
31	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	30	obj	_	_
32	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	xcomp	_	_
33	on	on	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | thread |  | thread |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient |
| 2 | **glide down** | gerund | thread *not said here* |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **find** | past | thread | thread |  | the other side of the wall |  | safe *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Topic |

<!-- .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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