---
title: ‘A donkey!’ repeated Simon, ‘you don’t mean to say so; if a single o… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘A donkey!’ repeated Simon, ‘you don’t mean to say so; if a single other person tells me that, I’ll make him a present of the wretched animal.’ Who acts: you, single other person, I. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1, sentence 33

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘A donkey!’ repeated Simon, ‘you don’t mean to say so; if a single other person tells me that, I’ll make him a present of the wretched animal.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, single other person, I · **What happens:** repeat, not mean, say, tell, make · **To what, where:** donkey, me, present · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, single other person, I), 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:pg7277:26:33
# text = ‘A donkey!’ repeated Simon, ‘you don’t mean to say so; if a single other person tells me that, I’ll make him a present of the wretched animal.’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
6	repeated	repeat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	Simon	Simon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	‘	‘	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
18	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
20	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
21	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
24	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	iobj	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’ll	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	present	present	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	wretched	wretched	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **repeat** | participle · passive |  | a donkey |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **mean** | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | a single other person |  | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 5 | **make** | future | I | a present of the wretched animal | donkey |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: agent=Asset he=Beneficiary present=Product |

<!-- .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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