---
title: So the Crab said: “When I have secured it to your tail, I will say ‘… — The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient · tree and pragmatics
description: So the Crab said: “When I have secured it to your tail, I will say ‘Ready!’ and that will be the signal to start, then go as fast as you like.” Who acts: Crab, that, you. A sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 6, with its dependency 
---

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# The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 6, sentence 8

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So the Crab said: “When I have secured it to your tail, I will say ‘Ready!’ and that will be the signal to start, then go as fast as you like.”

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**Who acts:** Crab, that, you · **What happens:** say, secure, be, start, go, like · **To what, where:** offer, Ready, signal · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Crab, that, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg65965:6:8
# text = So the Crab said: “When I have secured it to your tail, I will say ‘Ready!’ and that will be the signal to start, then go as fast as you like.”
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Crab	Crab	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	secured	secure	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	_
19	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	Ready	Ready	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	20	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	nsubj	_	_
25	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	cop	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	signal	signal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	33	advmod	_	_
33	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
34	as	as	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	33	advmod	_	_
36	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
37	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	like	like	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	35	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: express* | past | the Crab |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **secure** *in a quote* | present · perfect | the Crab *= crab* | offer |  |  |  | to your tail | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent it=Patient to tail=Co-Patient |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | future | the Crab *= crab* | Ready and the signal |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent ready=Topic |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | future | that | the signal |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **start** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the Crab *= crab* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 6 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | the Crab *= crab* *not said here* |  |  |  | then | fast *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **like** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |

<!-- .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 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.

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