---
title: “If it is possible to bring her back,” said her brother, “I'll do it… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “If it is possible to bring her back,” said her brother, “I'll do it, or perish in the attempt.” Who acts: it, brother. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Childe Rowland, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Childe Rowland, sentence 7

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“If it is possible to bring her back,” said her brother, “I'll do it, or perish in the attempt.”

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**Who acts:** it, brother · **What happens:** be, bring back, say, do, perish · **To what, where:** Burd, Warlock, attempt · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Childe Rowland. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, brother), 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:pg7439:24:7
# text = “If it is possible to bring her back,” said her brother, “I'll do it, or perish in the attempt.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	ccomp	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	csubj	_	_
8	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	back	back	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	'll	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	ccomp	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	perish	perish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	conj	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	attempt	attempt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	19	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | it |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **bring back** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  | Burd |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument she=Destination |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Burd's brother |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **do** *in a quote* | future | Burd's brother *= brother* | Warlock |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 5 | **perish** *in a quote* | infinitive | Burd's brother *= brother* *not said here* |  |  | the attempt |  |  | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

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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:** «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7439 (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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