---
title: ‘Let the child go, Master,’ said his wife; ‘perhaps we shall eat the… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Let the child go, Master,’ said his wife; ‘perhaps we shall eat the dates--or perhaps we shall not--but let him go.’ Who acts: you, child, wife, we. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nunda, Eater of People, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Nunda, Eater of People, sentence 87

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘Let the child go, Master,’ said his wife; ‘perhaps we shall eat the dates--or perhaps we shall not--but let him go.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, child, wife, we · **What happens:** let, go, say, eat · **To what, where:** child, dates · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nunda, Eater of People. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, child, wife, we), 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:pg641:29:87
# text = ‘Let the child go, Master,’ said his wife; ‘perhaps we shall eat the dates--or perhaps we shall not--but let him go.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	Master	Master	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
14	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
16	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	dates	date	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
23	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | imperative | you *not said here* | the child |  |  |  | Master *obl* | tree rules |
| 2 | **go** | infinitive | the child *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | child's wife |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **eat** | shall | we | the dates |  |  |  | perhaps *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent date=Patient |
| 5 | **let** | infinitive | you *not said here* | child |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **go** | infinitive | child *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «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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