---
title: ‘Oh, Puddocky, this time you can’t help me, for the task is beyond e… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Oh, Puddocky, this time you can’t help me, for the task is beyond even your power,’ replied the Prince. Who acts: you, task, Puddocky. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 5, sentence 20

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‘Oh, Puddocky, this time you can’t help me, for the task is beyond even your power,’ replied the Prince.

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**Who acts:** you, task, Puddocky · **What happens:** not help, be, reply · **To what, where:** time, me

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, task, Puddocky), 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:pg7277:30:20
# text = ‘Oh, Puddocky, this time you can’t help me, for the task is beyond even your power,’ replied the Prince.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	Puddocky	Puddocky	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	ca	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	n’t	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl:relcl	_	_
12	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
18	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	even	even	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	_
24	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **help** | can | you | this time *not said here* | me |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **is** | present | the task |  |  |  |  | for your power | tree rules |
| 3 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Puddocky |  |  |  |  |  | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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