---
title: But I used to say, “Take care--the town is large, there are plenty o… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But I used to say, “Take care--the town is large, there are plenty of bad people in it--keep a sharp eye on Jem.” Who acts: I, town, plenty. 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 every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2, sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But I used to say, “Take care--the town is large, there are plenty of bad people in it--keep a sharp eye on Jem.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, town, plenty · **What happens:** use, say, take, be, keep · **To what, where:** care, sharp eye, 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 (I, town, plenty), 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:pg641:27:20
# text = But I used to say, “Take care--the town is large, there are plenty of bad people in it--keep a sharp eye on Jem.”
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	Take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
9	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	17	expl	_	_
17	are	be	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
18	plenty	plenty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	Jem	Jem	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **take** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | care |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent care=Theme |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the town |  |  |  |  | large *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** *in a quote* | present | plenty of bad people in town |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **keep** *in a quote* | infinitive | I *not said here* | a sharp eye |  | Jem |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent eye=Theme on jem=Location |

<!-- .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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