---
title: Since you can talk, pray tell me instantly what all this is about, a… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Since you can talk, pray tell me instantly what all this is about, and how you happen to know my name.’ Who acts: you, this, my. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 2, sentence 35

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Since you can talk, pray tell me instantly what all this is about, and how you happen to know my name.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, this, my · **What happens:** talk, tell, be, happen, know, name · **To what, where:** me, name · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, this, my), 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:pg7277:37:35
# text = Since you can talk, pray tell me instantly what all this is about, and how you happen to know my name.’
1	Since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	pray	pray	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	iobj	_	_
9	instantly	instantly	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	ccomp	_	_
11	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	14	det:predet	_	_
12	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	about	about	ADV	RB	_	10	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	happen	happen	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | can | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present |  |  | me |  |  | instantly *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | present | this |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **happen** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **know** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | my name |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer name=Stimulus |
| 6 | **name** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=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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