--- title: ‘My Lord and master,’ he whispered, ‘if it were not absurd for a Gra… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: ‘My Lord and master,’ he whispered, ‘if it were not absurd for a Grand Vizier, and still more for a stork, to be afraid of ghosts, I should feel quite nervous, for someone, or something close by me, has sighed and moaned quite audibly.’ Who acts: Lord, master, I. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/7/101/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/) / [The Story of Caliph Stork](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/7/) / 101 # The Green Fairy Book, The Story of Caliph Stork, sentence 101 ‘My Lord and master,’ he whispered, ‘if it were not absurd for a Grand Vizier, and still more for a stork, to be afraid of ghosts, I should feel quite nervous, for someone, or something close by me, has sighed and moaned quite audibly.’ **Who acts:** Lord, master, I · **What happens:** whisper, not be, be, feel, sigh, moan · **To what, where:** more This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Caliph Stork. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Lord, master, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg7277:7:101 # text = ‘My Lord and master,’ he whispered, ‘if it were not absurd for a Grand Vizier, and still more for a stork, to be afraid of ghosts, I should feel quite nervous, for someone, or something close by me, has sighed and moaned quite audibly.’ 1 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 My my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 3 nmod:poss _ _ 3 Lord Lord PROPN NNP Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _ 4 and and CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 5 master master NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ 8 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 whispered whisper VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 11 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 12 if if SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 13 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 14 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 cop _ _ 15 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 16 advmod _ _ 16 absurd absurd ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 ccomp _ _ 17 for for ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 18 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 19 Grand grand ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 Vizier Vizier PROPN NNP Number=Sing 16 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 23 still still ADV RB _ 24 advmod _ _ 24 more more ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 9 obj _ _ 25 for for ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 stork stork NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 to to PART TO _ 31 mark _ _ 30 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 31 cop _ _ 31 afraid afraid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 parataxis _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 ghosts ghost NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 35 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 37 nsubj _ _ 36 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 37 aux _ _ 37 feel feel VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 parataxis _ _ 38 quite quite ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 39 nervous nervous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 41 for for ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 someone someone PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 44 or or CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 45 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 42 appos _ _ 46 close close ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 47 by by ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 48 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 46 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 49 , , PUNCT , _ 51 punct _ _ 50 has have AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 51 aux _ _ 51 sighed sigh VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 37 parataxis _ _ 52 and and CCONJ CC _ 53 cc _ _ 53 moaned moan VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 51 conj _ _ 54 quite quite ADV RB _ 55 advmod _ _ 55 audibly audibly ADV RB _ 53 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 56 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 57 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | past | My Lord and master | more | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent more=Topic | | 2 | **not** **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | master | | | | | for a Grand Vizier; absurd *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **is** | to-infinitive | | | | | | of ghosts; afraid *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **feel** | should | I | | | | | for someone; nervous *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus | | 5 | **sigh** | present · perfect | | | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **moan** | participle | | | | | | audibly *property* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 100](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/7/100/) - next →: [sentence 102](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/7/102/) - ↑ back to [The Story of Caliph Stork](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/7/)