---
title: I am old, and--now that there is someone to take my place, I will co… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: I am old, and--now that there is someone to take my place, I will confess it--I am afraid that my strength is not equal to the task that lies before me. Who acts: I, someone, strength, task. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2, with its de
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 2, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I am old, and--now that there is someone to take my place, I will confess it--I am afraid that my strength is not equal to the task that lies before me.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, someone, strength, task · **What happens:** be, take, confess, not be, lie · **To what, where:** place

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, 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, someone, strength, task), 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:pg641:39:29
# text = I am old, and--now that there is someone to take my place, I will confess it--I am afraid that my strength is not equal to the task that lies before me.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	10	expl	_	_
10	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
11	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	10	nsubj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	acl	_	_
14	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	confess	confess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
26	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
28	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	equal	equal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	ccomp	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	nsubj	_	_
35	lies	lie	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
36	before	before	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | present | someone |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **take** | to-infinitive | someone *not said here* | my place |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=Theme |
| 4 | **confess** | future | I | place |  |  | now |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 5 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **not** **is** | present | my strength |  |  |  |  | to the task; equal *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **lie** | present | the task |  |  |  | before me |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before i=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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