--- title: ‘Truly,’ thought Martin to himself, ‘it would be more sensible to sa… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: ‘Truly,’ thought Martin to himself, ‘it would be more sensible to save a fellow-being’s life with this sand than to drag it about on one’s back, seeing what a weight it is.’ Who acts: it, weight. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Magic Ring, with its dependency tree and the p --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/33/53/) [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 Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The Magic Ring](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/33/) / 53 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Magic Ring, sentence 53 ‘Truly,’ thought Martin to himself, ‘it would be more sensible to save a fellow-being’s life with this sand than to drag it about on one’s back, seeing what a weight it is.’ **Who acts:** it, weight · **What happens:** think, be, save, drag, see · **To what, where:** Martin, fellow life, sand This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Magic Ring. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, weight), 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:pg640:33:53 # text = ‘Truly,’ thought Martin to himself, ‘it would be more sensible to save a fellow-being’s life with this sand than to drag it about on one’s back, seeing what a weight it is.’ 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Truly truly ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 4 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 2 punct _ _ 5 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 Martin Martin PROPN NNP Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 7 to to ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 8 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 10 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 11 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 12 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 15 aux _ _ 13 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 15 cop _ _ 14 more more ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 15 advmod _ _ 15 sensible sensible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 parataxis _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 17 save save VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 xcomp _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 19 fellow fellow NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 20 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 21 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 22 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ’s 's PART POS _ 19 acl _ _ 23 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ _ 24 with with ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 26 det _ _ 26 sand sand NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ _ 27 than than SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 28 to to PART TO _ 29 mark _ _ 29 drag drag VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 15 advcl _ _ 30 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obj _ _ 31 about about ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ _ 32 on on SCONJ IN _ 34 mark _ _ 33 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 34 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 34 ’s be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 29 advcl _ _ 35 back back ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 37 seeing see VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 15 parataxis _ _ 38 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 37 obj _ _ 39 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 weight weight NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nsubj _ _ 41 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 42 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 38 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 37 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 44 ’ ' PUNCT NFP _ 15 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | | Martin | Martin | | | truly *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot martin=Theme | | 2 | **is** | would | it | | | | | sensible *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **save** | to-infinitive | | a fellow life | | | | with this sand | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Theme | | 4 | **drag** | to-infinitive | | sand | | | | about *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 5 | **see** | gerund | | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **is a** | present | a weight | | | | | | tree rules | 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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/33/52/) - next →: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/33/54/) - ↑ back to [The Magic Ring](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/33/)