---
title: “This is very strange,” said the Fox to himself, “but if I am tired,… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: “This is very strange,” said the Fox to himself, “but if I am tired, I know the Crab must be a great deal more so.” Who acts: This, Fox, Crab. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/6/13/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Jade Story Book; Stories from the…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/) / [Opening, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/6/) / 13

# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 6, sentence 13

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“This is very strange,” said the Fox to himself, “but if I am tired, I know the Crab must be a great deal more so.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** This, Fox, Crab · **What happens:** be, say, know · **To what, where:** Fox, great deal · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, Fox, Crab), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg65965:6:13
# text = “This is very strange,” said the Fox to himself, “but if I am tired, I know the Crab must be a great deal more so.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	Crab	Crab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
25	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	cop	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	deal	deal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	ccomp	_	_
30	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	31	advmod	_	_
31	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | This |  |  |  |  | strange *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Fox |  | Fox |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | the Fox *= fox* |  |  |  |  | tired *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **know** *in a quote* | present | the Fox *= fox* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | must | the Crab | a great deal |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Project Gutenberg book 65965 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/6/12/)
- next →: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/6/14/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/6/)