---
title: ‘What a pity we are not bigger,’ said the Osaka frog; ‘for then we c… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘What a pity we are not bigger,’ said the Osaka frog; ‘for then we could see both towns from here, and tell if it is worth our while going on.’ Who acts: we, pity, it, our. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Two Frogs, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Two Frogs, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘What a pity we are not bigger,’ said the Osaka frog; ‘for then we could see both towns from here, and tell if it is worth our while going on.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** we, pity, it, our · **What happens:** not be, say, see, tell, be, go on · **To what, where:** pity, Osaka frog, towns · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Two Frogs. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, pity, it, our), 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:pg641:14:8
# text = ‘What a pity we are not bigger,’ said the Osaka frog; ‘for then we could see both towns from here, and tell if it is worth our while going on.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	11	obj	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	pity	pity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
5	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	Osaka	Osaka	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	obl	_	_
19	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
22	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	23	det	_	_
23	towns	town	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
24	from	from	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	parataxis	_	_
29	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
32	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	ccomp	_	_
33	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
35	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	32	ccomp	_	_
36	on	on	ADP	RP	_	35	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present | we | a pity *not said here* |  |  |  | big *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | a pity | the Osaka frog |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | could | we | both towns |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer town=Stimulus |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | it |  |  |  |  | worth *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **go on** | gerund | our |  |  |  |  |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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