---
title: If you can find somebody else to ring the bells at midnight I am rea… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If you can find somebody else to ring the bells at midnight I am ready to begin work at dawn; but if you want me to ring them I must go on sleeping till noon at the very earliest.’ Who acts: you, somebody, I, me. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Headless Dwarfs, with its dep
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Headless Dwarfs, sentence 51

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If you can find somebody else to ring the bells at midnight I am ready to begin work at dawn; but if you want me to ring them I must go on sleeping till noon at the very earliest.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, somebody, I, me · **What happens:** find, ring, be, begin, want, go · **To what, where:** somebody, bells, work, me, sleeping

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Headless Dwarfs. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, somebody, I, me), 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:pg641:33:51
# text = If you can find somebody else to ring the bells at midnight I am ready to begin work at dawn; but if you want me to ring them I must go on sleeping till noon at the very earliest.’
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	somebody	somebody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
6	else	else	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	ring	ring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bells	bell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	midnight	midnight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	advcl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	dawn	dawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
22	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	32	advcl	_	_
26	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	ring	ring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	xcomp	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
33	on	on	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	sleeping	sleeping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
35	till	till	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	noon	noon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
37	at	at	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	very	very	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	earliest	early	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | can | you | somebody |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent somebody=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 2 | **ring** | to-infinitive | somebody *not said here* | the bells |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bell=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  | midnight | ready *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **begin** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | work |  |  | dawn |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality |
| 5 | **want** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | me |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **ring** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | me *not said here* | bells *= bell* |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location they=Theme |
| 7 | **go** | must | I |  |  | sleeping | noon | at the earliest | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on sleeping=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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