---
title: The owl paused a moment and then said: ‘Do not think me unkind, but… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The owl paused a moment and then said: ‘Do not think me unkind, but I can only grant your request on one condition.’ Who acts: owl, I, your. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Caliph Stork, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Story of Caliph Stork, sentence 140

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The owl paused a moment and then said: ‘Do not think me unkind, but I can only grant your request on one condition.’

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**Who acts:** owl, I, your · **What happens:** pause, say, not think, grant, request · **To what, where:** me, request, one condition · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (owl, I, your), 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:pg7277:7:140
# text = The owl paused a moment and then said: ‘Do not think me unkind, but I can only grant your request on one condition.’
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	paused	pause	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	8	advmod	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
10	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	Do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	_
14	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	unkind	unkind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	only	only	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	grant	grant	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
22	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	request	request	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	nummod	_	_
26	condition	condition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pause** | past | the owl |  |  |  | moment |  | vn linger-53.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the owl *not said here* |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **think** *speech: other* | infinitive · do-support |  | me |  |  |  | unkind *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot i=Theme |
| 4 | **grant** | can | I | your request |  | one condition |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent request=Theme |
| 5 | **request** |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom request «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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