---
title: ‘I only spoke of it,’ said John, ‘because you see in me the man who… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘I only spoke of it,’ said John, ‘because you see in me the man who delivered the Princess from the goblins and whom she promised to marry.’ Who acts: I, John, you, man. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Soldier, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Little Soldier, sentence 162

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘I only spoke of it,’ said John, ‘because you see in me the man who delivered the Princess from the goblins and whom she promised to marry.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, John, you, man, Princess · **What happens:** speak, say, see, deliver, promise, marry · **To what, where:** man, Princess · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Soldier. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, John, you, man), 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:pg7277:22:162
# text = ‘I only spoke of it,’ said John, ‘because you see in me the man who delivered the Princess from the goblins and whom she promised to marry.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
12	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	ccomp	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
20	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
21	delivered	deliver	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	Princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	from	from	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	goblins	goblin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	whom	whom	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	conj	_	_
29	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	promised	promise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | I |  |  |  |  | of subject | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | John |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **see** | present | you | the man |  |  |  | in me | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus |
| 4 | **deliver** | past | the man | the Princess |  |  |  | from the goblins | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent princess=Theme from goblin=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past | Princess |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **marry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Princess *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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