---
title: ‘It is the middle of the night, I know,’ said the Soldier; ‘but I sh… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘It is the middle of the night, I know,’ said the Soldier; ‘but I should very much like to see the Princess for a moment.’ Who acts: dog, I, Soldier. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Tinder-box, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Tinder-box, sentence 98

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‘It is the middle of the night, I know,’ said the Soldier; ‘but I should very much like to see the Princess for a moment.’

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**Who acts:** dog, I, Soldier · **What happens:** be, know, say, like, see · **To what, where:** middle, Princess · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Tinder-box. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dog, I, Soldier), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg640:46:98
# text = ‘It is the middle of the night, I know,’ said the Soldier; ‘but I should very much like to see the Princess for a moment.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	14	punct	_	_
14	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Soldier	Soldier	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
18	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
21	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
22	very	very	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	much	much	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	like	like	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	Princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | dog | the middle |  |  | night |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Soldier |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **like** | should | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **see** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | the Princess |  |  | moment |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer princess=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 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.

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