---
title: The first thing I shall ask you to do is to bring me a piece of line… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The first thing I shall ask you to do is to bring me a piece of linen a hundred yards long, so fine that it will go through a gold ring.’ Who acts: I, first thing, thing. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 4, sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The first thing I shall ask you to do is to bring me a piece of linen a hundred yards long, so fine that it will go through a gold ring.’

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**Who acts:** I, first thing, thing · **What happens:** ask, do, be, go · **To what, where:** first thing, you, gold ring

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, first thing, thing), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg7277:29:71
# text = The first thing I shall ask you to do is to bring me a piece of linen a hundred yards long, so fine that it will go through a gold ring.’
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:outer	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
13	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	linen	linen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nummod	_	_
20	yards	yard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl:unmarked	_	_
21	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	so	so	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	conj	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	csubj	_	_
29	through	through	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | shall | I | the first thing *not said here* | you |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | present | the first thing |  |  |  |  | bring *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **go** | future | thing |  |  | a gold ring |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through ring=Initial\_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 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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