---
title: Of course, Jem could not say he had been turned into a squirrel, but… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Of course, Jem could not say he had been turned into a squirrel, but he said he was without parents and had been taught cooking by an old woman. Who acts: Jem. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2, sentence 129

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Of course, Jem could not say he had been turned into a squirrel, but he said he was without parents and had been taught cooking by an old woman.

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**Who acts:** Jem · **What happens:** not say, turn, say, be, teach, cook · **To what, where:** Jem · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Jem), 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:pg641:27:129
# text = Of course, Jem could not say he had been turned into a squirrel, but he said he was without parents and had been taught cooking by an old woman.
1	Of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
4	Jem	Jem	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
5	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	say	say	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	ccomp	_	_
12	into	into	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	squirrel	squirrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	without	without	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	ccomp	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	taught	teach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	conj	_	_
27	cooking	cook	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	26	xcomp	_	_
28	by	by	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **say** *speech: assert* | could |  |  |  |  |  | of Jem | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **turn** | past · perfect · passive |  | Jem |  |  |  | into a squirrel *result* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: subject=Theme into squirrel=Result |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Jem |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | Jem |  |  |  |  | without parents | tree rules |
| 5 | **teach** *speech: other* | past · perfect · passive | Jem *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: clause=Topic |
| 6 | **cook** | gerund | Jem *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by a old woman | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: 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 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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